Closing the Sunnydale Hellmouth
by steamfan
Summary: This is Season Seven of BtVS done my way. Follows And Life Goes on in the Dawn Winchester verse.
1. Chapter 1

Series: Dawn Winchester

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, the movie series Tremors, L&O SUV or Stargate SG1

Summary: This is season seven of Buffy done my way.

Warnings: Spoilers for some parts of Buffy season seven, severely mangled timelines, swearing, some rather graphic violence, and infantile behavior

Pairings: Giles/Joyce, John/Buffy, Willow/Tara, Dean/Faith, Sam/OFC, Dawn/MiniJack possible

Quentin Travers handed over a file to the Harbringer. It had taken months for him to find one and then to arrange for a leave of absence so he could get the file on how to find the potential slayers to them. In his madness and his eagerness for his revenge against the current slayers he had given no thought for his own safety, something that normally he would have at least considered when dealing with demons. It was his last mistake. Other Harbringers surrounded him and carried him off.

John Winchester was sound asleep in his bed and he was dreaming of a small girl, no more than five years old being chased by something in robes. He didn't know how he knew it wasn't human, but he was sure of it. From what he could see of the area around her and her outfit she was Chinese, rather than Chinese American. Another robed figure stepped out from around a building and the little girl ran straight into its arms. It lifted her up and as she screamed the first demon slit her throat. He sat straight up in bed, only his years of hiding the nightmares from his boys keeping him from shouting out. From what he could hear Sam wasn't so lucky. He got out of bed and went to his son's room, meeting Dean in the hallway. Dean opened the door first and John followed him in. Sam was sitting up in his bed, sweating heavily. "At least you didn't run into the wall this time." Dean said. John smacked him upside the head as Sam wasn't able to do it yet.

"Did you dream about a little Chinese girl, Sam?" He asked sitting down beside Sam. Dean also climbed onto the bed although he sprawled out beside his brother.

"She was being chased by something wearing a robe, its eyes were scars. Other than that it looked like a bald human. Two of them caught her. One of them slit her throat." Sam shuddered; he'd gotten a close up look at the knife as the demon had killed the girl. "I need to draw the knife. I had a close up look at it. There has to be a reason for that." Dean reached over and grabbed the sketch pad and pencil set from the dresser next to Sam's bed and handed them to his brother. John and Sam spent the rest of the night going over their dreams and having Sam sketch them out while Dean drifted off next to them on the bed.

"Are you sure we have to do this?" John asked Buffy the next morning. They were standing in front of the new high school which had finally been completed two days ago.

She gave him a hug and ignored the opening ceremony that was going on in front of them. "We don't have any choice, Dawn has to have science credits to graduate and that means she has to take a few classes here. I don't like it any more than you do. Our daughter is about to go to the same high school that tried to kill me for three years. We have no idea what's going to come out of there this time. The only reason I haven't locked her up or shipped her to another school is because Faith is going to be with her." She hid her face in his shoulder and shuddered as memories from her time as a student at Sunnydale High ran through her mind. John held her and looked around the assembled students, parents and other locals. He wondered how many of them actually knew about the hellmouth that was located underneath the school. At least Wesley had gotten a job as the school librarian. The school had been rebuilt almost exactly as it had been before so the library was once more sitting right above the hellmouth.

With the ribbon cut, the students started streaming into the school. Buffy grabbed Dawn's arm, "I know," Dawn held up her hand to stop the lecture that was about to come out of Buffy's mouth. "Stay away from hyena people, fishy-type athletes and invisible kids. I love you. Go away."

Faith laughed at the expressions on John and Buffy's faces. "Don't worry about the Dawn Patrol guys, I got it covered." She gave Buffy a serious look to let her know just how serious she was taking the duty and linked arms with Dawn. They marched into the school together.

As they were only taking two classes and neither of them started for two hours Faith and Dawn decided to check in with Wesley and then explore the new school. "I figure we're probably going to have a lot of action here so we should get the lay of the land." Faith said, her face wrinkling with disgust thinking of how much time she had spent at the school before she had lost her mind.

Dawn nodded and led the way to the lockers. It didn't take long to find hers and Faith's was just five lockers down. "Hey Dawn! I thought you were being home schooled?" Kit asked. She was also a new freshman and had the locker right next to Dawn.

"I am, but I need to take some science classes here. My family has everything else covered, even the PE requirements but you have to have lab time for the science courses. So, here I am at good ole Sunnyhell high. Oh, this is Faith." She introduced her friend to the dark slayer. "Her guardian is the new librarian and she's being home schooled with me. Faith, this is Kit." Just as the girls finished introducing themselves to each other the first bell rang and Kit had to leave for her first class.

Dawn stowed her notebook in her locker and set up the shelving system she and Buffy had decided to buy when Xander had told them all of the lockers were full length rather than the usual double stacked half length. Both she and Faith dawdled over the task until the hall had cleared and then they unloaded their spare arsenal into their lockers. It was only one of the places they had decided to keep a stash of stakes, holy water and in Dawn's case two boxes of rock salt. They were not going to be caught unprepared if they could help it.

"Miss Summers?" the new principal stopped Buffy and John on their way off the school grounds. "May I have a word with you?"

"Yes?" Buffy asked warily. She didn't want to destroy Dawn's hopefully short high school career by getting the principal on her back the first day, but she was uneasy with the fact that the principal had stopped her of all people from leaving the school.

"I would prefer to speak to you alone if you don't mind." He said, eyeing John a little nervously.

"I don't have any secrets from my fiancée. If you want to talk to me, you'll have to do it in front of him." Buffy's voice was firm.

The principal shot John a dirty look that clearly said 'you dirty old man you!' but led them both to his office. "Miss Summers, I was told to look out for you today by the school board. It seems that due to your extra curricular activities while you were a student here your graduating class had the lowest mortality rate in the history of the town." Buffy was shocked. The only ones who had ever acknowledged her contributions to that statistic before were her classmates at the prom. "I was told to ask you if there was any way we could get you to take a type of security position here at the school."

"Mr. Brown, are you aware of exactly why this school has always had such a high mortality rate?" She tried to ask delicately.

Mr. Brown noticed that the older man seated next to Buffy Summers didn't so much as twitch at her remark. He must be aware of the situation. "Yes, I'm aware that the school sits on top of a hellmouth and that the reason for the school's placement here was because the former mayor wanted to become a powerful demon." He said bluntly. "The only reason the new school was built here was because there wasn't enough money to buy a new piece of land and build a new school too. No one wanted to buy this property for some reason. Personally I don't blame anybody for not wanting it, but it left the school board stuck without the funds it needed."

Buffy nodded all business now. She still hadn't forgiven him for his reaction to John. "You already have a slayer as a student here Mr. Brown. My sister slayer Faith can and will do her best to take care of the students. If the school board wants to offer her a job, be my guest. I've already told my step-daughter that I wouldn't be coming to the school unless someone was trying something stupid like opening the hellmouth and it was official business. As Faith is here, a regular patrol during school hours would be going back on my promise to her." She stood up and shook his hand. "Good day, Mr. Brown." John silently followed her out of the school.

When they were safely back in his truck, John asked with looking at her. "I'm your fiancé?"

"Maybe," she smiled. John smiled back, it was the best news he'd heard all day.

Mr. Brown dove into the school records the moment Buffy Summers had left his office. He thanked God there was only one student named Faith. She was the ward of the new librarian and was one of two part time students who were mostly home schooled. He stopped for a moment and recalled the stories he'd been told about Buffy Summers and her relationship with the previous librarian, Mr. Rupert Giles. He hoped that it was a similar arrangement. He needed all the help he could get to keep the students alive. He caught up with Faith and Dawn in the library where they were talking to Wesley. Or rather, Dawn was talking; Faith was giving Wesley a bad time about dressing back up in the dreaded suits that he had worn as a Council lackey.

When the principal came in to talk to Faith he made it clear that he didn't want witnesses, so Dawn told Faith she was going to the bathroom and to come and get her when the coast was clear. She didn't know what the principal wanted with Faith, but she was betting it wouldn't be good. Why couldn't Faith get a break? she grumbled to herself as she walked down the hall. Once inside the bathroom she checked her make up in the mirror only to see a ghostly figure in the mirror. She whirled around only to see nothing. She checked the mirror again. The figure wasn't there, but Dawn wasn't fooled into thinking she hadn't seen it. She knew better than to believe that. "I can't believe it's starting already." She muttered to herself. She turned from the mirror to check out the stalls only to find her friend Kit huddled in the corner behind the sinks. "Kit, are you ok?"

Kit looked up and grabbed Dawn in a bear hug. "There's something in here with us. It's like at the party; only the dead chick's a lot older. Please tell me you have some of that rock salt stuff!" Before Dawn could answer the floor beneath them broke and they fell into the basement.

"Ok, this is not cool." Dawn said as she picked herself up off the ground. She knew that the floors in the school were not substandard and wouldn't simply collapse on their own. She helped Kit up and pulled out her cell phone. "Don't worry, this time I'm calling my dad. He'll know what to do."

"Dawn! Look out behind you!" Kit screamed.

Dawn turned and got hit in the face by what looked like a zombie. Crap, she thought as she hit the ground again. I'm going to lose that bet with Xander. Couldn't they have started after lunch? Quickly she scrambled up and pulled Kit down one narrow corridor and around another corner. Thankfully, she hadn't dropped her cell and she called Faith immediately. There was no way she was going to call Buffy. Unless it was an apocalypse she wasn't calling her mother to come to school on the first day. And it was far too soon in the school year for an apocalypse. "Yeah, we're in the basement. Do you think you can find us and help us out? It looked to me like a zombie, but I'm not sure. Thanks." She closed her cell and said to Kit, "Help's on the way. Now let's see if we can find a door."

Mr. Brown and Wesley were quietly arguing about whether or not the school would be allowed to hire Faith when she got the call from Dawn. "Hey, you two! Argue about it later. It looks like we may have zombies in the basement and there is a hole in the girls' bathroom floor." She turned to Wesley. "How do I take out zombies?"

"Fire, dismemberment," Wesley said shortly. He walked over to his office and pulled a crossbow and a quiver of fire bolts out of a chest he hadn't had time to unpack. He handed them to her along with a pair of lighters. "Zombies must be created and then usually they are either mindless slaves or free thinking servant. If the person who created them wanted mindless slaves, fire is the best way to deal with them." Wesley also handed her a machete. "If they are free thinking servants, dismemberment is the only recourse you have. The age of the corpse and the spell are the determining factors. You will be able to tell the difference by whether or not they can talk." Faith nodded and ran for the girls' bathroom.

Wesley turned to Mr. Brown. "Are you sure you want to hire Faith?"

As Dawn and Kit were walking down yet another corridor, Kit burst out in frustration, "I swear the damned walls are moving! We already went this way!"

"You're right about that one." A voice said from just behind them. The girls whirled around to find two lanky teenaged boys. One had sandy blond hair and the other had jet black hair. The blond looked to be about sixteen and the brunet was about fifteen. "I'm Jack and this is Carlos. We've been stuck down here for about two hours now."

"How'd you get stuck down here?" Dawn asked.

"There's this guy, Steve. Well he's a senior and I guess I pissed him off or something?" Carlos shrugged.

Jack muttered something about geeks and rocks. "I though he was going to get clobbered when he tugged at the guy's necklace, so I tried to shove him out of the way of the punch. Next thing I know, we're down here."

Dawn nodded and pulled out her cell phone, this was something she would have to call in.

Chapter 2

Faith opened her cell phone. These little gadgets were really coming in handy she decided. "Dawn, where are you? I'm down in the basement but all I can find is walls. They're moving. Just great." She kicked the closest wall. "Can you do that tracking spell in reverse or something? Get it to lead me to you? I'll never find you other wise down here. Thanks, good thing you told Wes about that kid. He'll put a stop to it. Ok, thanks."

Dawn closed her cell phone and dropped to the ground. Thank goodness the tracking spell Elizabeth had taught her was a simple one and that she had taught her both versions of it. She called the power into her hands and told it to find Faith and return. The small glow shot off and the other kids watched in shock, although Jack just said "oookay." Before he could say anything more, and Dawn could see the questions in his eyes, the zombies attacked again. This time Dawn threw up the shield spell that she'd learned, cussing herself out as she did so, because why hadn't she thought about this before? It might have saved her that punch to the jaw.

Jack wanted to say something but figured it would be wiser to keep his mouth shut. This girl wasn't acting like any alien he knew and as far as he could tell she hadn't used any technology either. She'd just sat down and this little light had formed in her hands and taken off. Then the weirdoes showed up and damn if they didn't look just like, "Are those zombies?" Carlos asked interrupting Jack's train of thought.

"Yes, and there are probably some ghosts around here too. I thought I saw one in the bathroom, and before you ask, yes it is all real; zombies, ghosts, and magic. This school sits on top of a hellmouth. That's a place where the dimensional barriers are thin enough to open into another set of dimensions so bad they are collectively called hell dimensions. Don't try to touch the zombies or anything because I've got a shield spell going and the only one I know works like a two way mirror. They can't get in but you can get out so if you stick your hand out they'll be able to grab it and pull you out of the area I'm protecting." Dawn said distractedly. It was harder to keep two spells going at the same time.

"Yeahsureyoubetcha." Was the only thing Jack could think to say as the zombies (ZOMBIES?!?) plastered themselves against thin air. Other dimensions he could handle, that was something he'd had experience with although he never could understand Carter when she got all geek babble about it but magic he wasn't too sure about. It was too bad he couldn't ask Carter, he'd love to see her try to explain it. He mentally sniggered at the look he imagined would be on her face if he did ask. Kit just figured this was a good time to be scared out of her wits and that was a perfect excuse to cling to Carlos. Jack just stood there rocking on his heels a little. He didn't know how long this two way shield would work and if it went down he needed to be ready to kick some ass, even if the trouble was a couple of dead guys instead of the aliens he was used to. These kids couldn't do it, well maybe the shield girl could. Just then a brunet teenager walked up following the little glowing thing. She was armed with a crossbow with a burning bolt on it. She shot both zombies in the back and calmly watched them burn.

Dawn let the shield drop and ended the tracking spell as well. "Thanks Faith."

"No problem, Dawn Patrol. You know what would happen to me if I let you get killed on the first day of school! I am not going up against the rest of the family." Faith said with an exaggerated shudder.

"Oh please." Dawn said and put her arm around Faith's shoulder. "They wouldn't kill you, maim you a little," she teased. They both laughed and Dawn sent the tracking spell off to find the way out. "By the way, Faith this is Jack and Carlos."

"Nice to meet you miss, and you two would be?" Jack asked pointedly.

"Oh, sheesh! The zombies distracted me. I'm Dawn and this is Kit." Dawn finished the introductions. "We need to get to class before we're late."

"Brown will give us all a pass." Faith waved off Dawn's worry. "He knows about the zombies."

"Faith! We've only got two classes and I don't want to miss them. Hurry up and follow the light ball."

Finding the senior who had sent Dawn and her new friends to the basement turned out to be rather simple. It was also rather satisfying to Wesley to be able to put a gun to the young man's back as he walked the boy to the principal's office. Once there he had Steve Henderson sit in the chair in front of the desk. Then he removed the necklace that had caused the mornings trouble. "You can't take that!" he protested.

"On the contrary, young man," Mr. Brown said standing behind his desk. "Mr. Pryce is one of the Security detail here at the school. It is his job to remove dangerous objects from the school that threaten the life or health of our student body. You have done both with your actions today. Don't you think it is a bit early in the school year to be sending other students down to the basement to be torn apart by zombies?"

Steve froze; he hadn't realized that the principal knew what he had used the necklace for. "They weren't supposed to get hurt. The zombies and ghosts were just supposed to scare them."

"You idiotic child, zombies of that age must be fed. When you dumped those students into the basement that was what you were doing." Wesley couldn't believe that anyone would entrust such a talisman to this child. He closely examined the necklace. "You didn't make this. From the signature on this I would hazard a guess that this is your mother's?" Steve shrank into his chair. Wesley nodded to Mr. Brown who picked up the phone.

The call that Mr. Brown made to Mrs. Henderson turned out to be very productive. She immediately came to the school and proceeded to thank both Wesley and Mr. Brown for preventing her son from becoming a murderer. She informed her son that since he had used the talisman for his own selfish purposes, and not for the last ditch life saving effort it was made for, he would be strictly involved in making her a new talisman and there would be serious study for the next year as a result.

"Shall I add Steve here to our list of home schooled students then Mrs. Henderson?" Mr. Brown asked.

"You do that here?" She asked.

"Yes, we do Mrs. Henderson. I can have my secretary show you the programs we have available." Mr. Brown showed both student and parent to the main office. Wesley shook his head and returned to the library. It was an interesting start to the school year. He found Faith, Dawn and three other students waiting for him. After introductions all around, he told them to get to the office for hall passes as to then get to class. He wondered as they left the library whether or not he was seeing the start of a new Scooby Gang. It would do Faith good to have friends of her own.

"I still can't believe how you just walked up and toasted those zombies! That was sooo cool Faith! Where did you get the crossbow?" Carlos blathered on to Faith as they walked down to the principal's office.

"From the same guy she gave it back to, duh!" Kit smacked him on the arm. She was glad Faith had saved them but could he please just tone down the hero worship just a little? If he kept on this way they'd never get in with the cool kids, and Faith, Dawn and Jack were the coolest kids she had ever seen. Who else would have been able to save their backsides? Plus Jack had actually tried to save Carlos from a beating of the ordinary sort. Friends like that were good to have. She'd been checking into things that she'd always ignored before Janice's birthday party. Fighting that little ghost girl had opened her eyes and she had wanted to find out more. What she had found out was scary, and what Dawn had told them down in the basement was even scarier because she didn't know what to do to defend herself. Both Dawn and Faith knew how to do that and they had saved her, Jack and Carlos as well. This was a friendship she wanted to see last a while.

They collected their hall passes from Mr. Brown. He was relieved when Faith told him that the zombies were taken care of and now that the magic that had called them up was broken, she'd do a patrol through the basement just to double check after her classes were done. He told her to expect a check for her in with Mr. Pryce's and sent them off to class.

"What was that all about?" Dawn rounded on Faith the minute the left the office. Jack nodded, he wanted to know too. Kit and Carlos just watched the conversation avidly.

"The school board wanted to hire a slayer to patrol the school during the hours it was officially open, so they asked your mom."

"Oh NO!" Dawn started to panic; she'd never be able to live that down.

"Calm down Dawn." Faith calling her by her name rather than the nickname she'd picked up from Dean settled Dawn down; maybe this wouldn't be too bad. "B turned them down because she'd promised you she'd only come to the school for business. She sent them to me and Wes. So, it looks like I got a paying job slaying here at the school." She said smugly. She might have gotten the opportunity because Buffy had turned them down, but that didn't mean she couldn't make this her gig, something all for herself.

Dawn and Faith weren't the only ones attending their first day of classes. Buffy, Willow, Tara and Sam were also having their first day at UC Sunnydale. They met at one of the little picnic spots around the campus to compare their classes and the teachers. Sam was trying to get Buffy to relax by telling her funny stories about growing up hunting with his brother and his dad. Willow and Tara could have told him it was no use, that as long as Dawn was at the high school she was going to be tense and wound up, but they were enjoying the stories too much to tell him.

"So here we are, it's almost midnight and Dean and I are holding the shovels while Dad is trying to explain just why we are digging up the grave of the local town hero and don't forget he has a gas can in his hands because Dean and I were too young to hold it." Tara and Willow dissolved into giggles at the thought of John Winchester being caught like that by the local women's charity head. "Deans says I picked that minute to start saying my favorite word at the time."

"What was that?" Buffy obliged him as the other two were too busy laughing.

"Ghostbusters, only I was two so it came out Googboogers and I was pointing at the lady. Dean swears I was trying to defend Dad and tell the lady off, but she seemed to think I was insulting her and Dad had taught me how to do it. So she slapped him and stomped off in a huff, swearing she was going to call the police. Fortunately the job was almost done and Dad had Dean hold me while he salted and burned the corpse. Then we left town before the cops showed up. Dad says that was the first time I'd gotten us run out of town but he preferred that to the times Dean got us run out because he was caught with the wrong girl."

"You know, I can't really see John telling you that story." Buffy said suspiciously.

"He didn't, Caleb did." Sam freely admitted. "He hated Caleb telling us those stories, but I loved them. He kept saying that he was never going to tell Caleb anything ever again but I noticed that didn't stop him the next time something came up." That set the girls off to laughing again and Sam smiled, glad to see that he could get any smile at all on Buffy's face. He did realize how frightening it must be for Buffy to send Dawn to that high school but he was sure that Dawn would be alright with Faith at her side.

Just then Wesley walked up with Dawn and Buffy jumped up to check her over. "I'm fine! Really, I'm ok. It was just a zombie and Faith burned it before it could do much of anything." Dawn blurted out, wanting to get the whole thing over with. "See, the precautions worked. I'm in one piece, my friends are in one piece, and the jerk who was playing around with his mom's magic got into trouble."

Buffy looked over at Wesley for confirmation and relaxed as he nodded. "She is essentially correct. She only left out the part where Faith accepted the school board's offer of a part time job patrolling the school during school hours. Thank you for sending the principal her way, Faith's very excited about getting paid to do her job." He smiled slightly as he remembered Faith's eagerness to set up patrol routes and training times. "I think she's rather proud that you believe she's good enough to be recommended for the job, Buffy."

"I'm glad she got it. She deserves something special for saving the day on the first day of school. How about you tell her that I'll take her patrol tonight and she can go out if she wants to, ok?" Buffy offered.

"Only if Dawn gets to go with her," Wesley was firm about that. "They want to go down to the Bronze with their new friends and I wouldn't want Dawn to be left out."

Buffy laughed, "It's a deal Wes. Come on Dawn, I'm done with school for today. We have to go down to the gallery and work on the wedding plans."

Dawn shook her head. It looked like Buffy was gearing up for a nervous breakdown over the wedding arrangements. Maybe she could get her dad to help ease the strain on her. She shook her head as she followed her mother off the college campus. I can't believe I'm trying to figure out a way to get my parents in bed together to make sure my mom doesn't have a nervous breakdown over my grandmother's wedding.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3

"Ummm, Dad can I talk to you?" Dawn asked as she waited for Dean to get ready to take her down to the Bronze. She was thankful that this time Dean wasn't taking her to make sure she didn't get hurt; he was going with her because his girlfriend was meeting them there.

"What's up Dawn? Is it about those zombies?" John asked concerned. It wasn't like Dawn to get nervous over the supernatural. She was more likely to want to kill it if it was dangerous and make friends with it if it wasn't.

"The zombies? No," she shook her head. "Do you remember what Willow was telling you about slayer urges?" She tried to ask delicately.

"Dawn you are way too young to get a boyfriend." John was going to stop that thought right there. "If either one of those boys laid a hand on you!"

"Nonononono! Not me, I'm talking about Mom." Dawn hurried to reassure her father. "No shovel speech for me! I don't have a boyfriend Dad. I'm just trying to say that; well, Faith is ummm, better and Mom's kind of not because, you know?" She risked looking at her dad. "Never mind, Dean are you ready?!" Dawn chickened out and ran for her brother's room.

Now what was that all about? John wondered. He began to try and puzzle out just what Dawn had been trying to ask him. It only took a few minutes before he was burying his head in his hands. There was just no way in hell his daughter had just tried to tell him to go have sex with her mother.

Dawn sat next to Kit and moped. She couldn't believe how she had chickened out talking to her dad. "What's wrong? Are you jealous of Faith dancing with that hot guy you came in with?" Kit asked. Jack and Carlos looked up from their conversation, (read polite argument) over who was the better ice hockey team.

"What are you talking about? Dean's my big brother, Kit. He's the one who taught me about using rock salt on ghosts." Dawn said. "He and Faith have been going out for weeks now. Sam says that's longer than anyone Dean has ever dated except maybe some girl named Cassie, but she dumped him when she found out he was a real life Ghostbuster."

"He's your new brother?" Kit tried to get a better look at Dean. "God he's hot." Dean and Faith saw that Kit was looking for them so they returned to the corner where they group was sitting. Dean tugged on Dawn's hair and sat down on her other side, pulling Faith onto his lap.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You're Dawn's new brother?" Kit asked determined to get to an answer since Dawn wasn't talking.

"Yep. Sam and I are Dawn's half brothers. She's the baby of the family." Dean said with a grin.

"How'd that happen, if you don't mind me asking? And Dawn says that you're a Ghostbuster?" Jack asked. He wanted to know more about Dawn's background. He also wanted to know just what the hellmouth was, and how zombies and ghosts were involved but that explanation could wait for later.

Dean launched into the by now standard cover story that Joyce had come up with to explain Dawn's connections to the Winchesters. "And yeah, I guess you could call me a Ghostbuster, but I'm not one of those college filmmaker geeks. I'm a hunter like the rest of my family. When we go in it isn't to prove that the ghost exists, we already know that they do. Our job is to hunt it down and take it out before it hurts someone else. We don't get called in unless someone has already been hurt or killed."

"That's what Dawn did at Janice's birthday party." Kit said and Dean nodded. He'd been very proud of how Dawn had saved the day. "So what is up with her now? She's been moping all night."

"Guys can you just drop it?" Dawn pleaded. She really didn't want to bring this up to anyone outside the family. It was embarrassing enough as it was trying to talk about it with family.

"Dawn Patrol?" Dean asked, worried.

She shook her head; she knew he wouldn't let it go anymore than Sam would. "Buffy's just getting a little stressed. I tried to talk to Dad about it and I chickened out." She left it at that hoping that Dean would understand and let her off the hook. The confusion on his face told her that it wasn't going to happen though.

Faith suddenly laughed and started to whisper in Dean's ear. The confusion on Dean's face cleared. "Oh, well don't expect me to help on that one, Dawnie. I kind of tried back when we were dealing with the swarm and Dad got me but good. That man is the master." Dean didn't elaborate; he just shook his head over the memory. "It won't matter none. If you gave Dad a hint that something is wrong with Buffy, he'll go after it like a mad dog after a bone until he figures it out. I doubt it will take him long."

Doing Faith's patrol actually turned out to be a good idea since she usually covered the area around Willies' bar. It wasn't that Faith couldn't have handled the brawl between the kitten poker players that threatened to spill out into the street, it was just better for her not to have had to deal with it. Brawls tended to be ugly and there was a chance that the few humans that frequented Willies' could have been hurt. No one wanted Faith to have to deal with that sort of situation so soon after returning to slaying. John also thought it was fun as hell. Normally he avoided bar brawls for all of the obvious reasons, but he couldn't help but grin at the sight of tiny Buffy, (something he did think but wasn't stupid enough to say) punching and flinging demons around the bar. She was just so beautiful when she was pissed.

After Buffy and John had wiped up the floor with the demons involved with the brawl, Buffy had hauled the bartender out from underneath it and informed him that her mother was getting married in just three weeks and if there was any type of demonic interruption she would be very upset. Willy looked at John trying to find out why she was already upset. John just kept on grinning. He loved to see Buffy worked up. He wasn't about to try and calm her down, especially just so a little weasel like him would be saved a little scare.

As John and Buffy left the bar, he could see that Buffy was shaking just a little, like the after affects of an adrenaline rush. Shit, that's what Dawn had been trying to tell him. Everything that was happening was getting to be too much for Buffy. This brawl shouldn't have gotten Buffy's adrenaline up. It was too small of an incident. It had to be the stress of the wedding and Dawn going to that particular school on top of her usual slaying. He pulled her into the alley next to Willies' and held her until the tremors subsided. "Would you tell me if you needed a break?" He asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"That's a no." John sighed. He really didn't expect to hear otherwise. "You shouldn't be shaking. This brawl should have been fun, not something to get worked up over. I'm just getting a little worried." He kissed her hair and tucked her under his chin. "We're here to help. I'm here to help. I love you and I don't want you to burn out over taking on too much and not letting us help."

"Really?" Buffy asked in a small voice.

John sighed. "Of course, now come on. I'm taking you back to my place."

It didn't take John long to walk Buffy back to the garage. They found Sam in the living room buried in his laptop. John grabbed him and took him off to John's bedroom. After a few minutes of discussion, Sam came back out with a robe, grinning. "Now don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. Dean and I have both literally killed for Dad to do this for us. It is a major treat. Now go in the bathroom, take off all your clothes, put the robe on and go in Dad's room. He's setting up in there for you." Buffy stared at him. "Yes, I know how that sounds. Just trust me, your going to love this." With that Sam handed her the robe, grabbed his laptop and left for the Bronze to catch up with Dean. He had to tell his brother about this. Maybe together they could figure out a way to get their dad to work on them?

Buffy stared at the robe in her hands. She knew John and his sons well enough that there was no way that this was what it sounded like. Sam had even reassured her of that. But what in the world was going on? She thought as she followed Sam's directions. She peeked into John's room and just about burst out laughing at what she had been thinking. John had stripped down his bed and folded the blankets at the bottom. Beside the bed on the dresser that was doubling as a nightstand was a potpourri pot with one of those tea lights underneath and John was filling it with massage oil. It looked like John had some unexpected talents.

Chapter 4

Three of the younger members of Spike's nest were sitting around the so called living room of Angel's mansion in Sunnydale. He stood at the French doors leading to the conservatory and watched them. They were not only exhausted from the usual round of school work, paying jobs and slaying, but also from Joyce's wedding preparations.

Joyce hadn't wanted a big wedding having done that with Hank, and had joked frequently about eloping. Buffy however, had put her foot down. It didn't matter to her if her mother wanted a big or a small wedding, but she was going to get a real wedding, and everyone was going to help. The or else didn't need to be added to the end of that sentence. No one had wanted to upset Buffy over something they had wanted to do for Joyce anyway.

Almost three weeks ago Buffy had gone from trying to do nearly everything to making a huge list and delegating well over half. She was still looking over people's shoulder's and having minor breakdowns if everything wasn't perfect, but when ever she got really bad someone called John. Spike wasn't sure what had started that.

He had a suspicion however, that Dean and Sam had tried to do something to her. It was nothing specific, just the look on Willow's face whenever she was the one who was distracting Buffy away from Sam or Dean so that their dad could be called and the look on theirs whenever they looked at Willow. What he did know was that when ever John was called to reign in his slayer, she tended to come back in a very happy mood, and she often smelled of fancy oils and a hint of sex.

The frustrating thing was he couldn't tell if they were shagging or not because of that blasted oil they were using. Not that it was any of his business of course, he was just nosy and he admitted it, at least to himself. "Please tell me everything is ready for tomorrow." Willow begged.

"The church is reserved and the decorations are all approved by the Wedding Nazi, the restaurant has our reservations for the lunch afterwards and we are opening the presents here. The reception is going to be in the ballroom, it is decorated and fully set up and the punch and cookies are in the kitchen. Buffy and Faith are going out on a last minute patrol to make sure there won't be any demons who will bother the wedding tomorrow and we're having it during the day so no vampires can crash it." Xander listed in a very tired voice.

"Elizabeth is guarding our wedding clothes and she's taking over running the Magic Box while Joyce and Giles are on their honeymoon." Tara added.

"John and his boys are guarding Giles so no one can kidnap the groom, and Nibblet is staying with Joyce tonight for the same reason." Spike said. Everyone nodded, they couldn't think of anything else that needed to be done except to get some sleep. Soon the wedding would be over and then they could relax, although Spike had an itch at the back of his neck. It wasn't something that he could define, but there was definitely something in the air. He shrugged off the feeling. Whatever it was would show itself sooner or later.

A lean man with an intense look had been watching Giles and John from the moment they walked in the door. The only reason no one saw him was the small 'don't look at me' spell he had performed just for this moment. He was really looking forward to his revenge. If Ripper had just beaten the daylights out of him the last time they had met he wouldn't have been this upset.

But Ripper hadn't beaten him; he'd turned him over to the damned bloody Initiative soldiers. It was only the fact that the Initiative had gone belly up that had allowed him the chance to escape. When he had escaped he'd made his way slowly back to the hellmouth. The first time the waitress passed by him with two shots of whiskey and two beers for their table, he spelled the shots. He knew Ripper's tastes and he was sure that Giles would be drinking at least one of the shots. Then he left quickly, if the slayer caught him this time there was no telling what she would do to him.

Giles looked at John and shook his head. "You do realize that I can not be hung over tomorrow during the wedding, correct?" He looked at the shots of whiskey and the two beers that John had asked to be delivered to their table.

"Yes, but no one said that the boys had to be sober tonight." John gestured at Dean and Sam who were playing pool. They had arrived an hour before John and Giles because the older men had made a last minute stop at the jewelry store to pick up the wedding rings Giles had needed fitted for Joyce's hand. They were a Giles family heirloom that Giles had brought back from England, but they had been too big for Joyce's finger.

It was only a minute before the boys headed back to the table where John and Giles sat; laughing over Dean's cleaning out several college students pockets. "One beer won't kill you or get you too drunk to function tomorrow."

The boys took the shots and the older men took the beers. They spent the next couple of hours talking about things in general until Giles thought Dean was drunk enough to answer a question that had been plaguing him for a while. "Dean, what in the world did you do to Buffy that has you so embarrassed you can't look at Willow?"

John looked over at his boys, that was one he wanted answered too. Sam propped his head up on his fist and answered for his brother. "She was freaking out and she wasn't acting right so we went and got the exorcism kit but Willow stopped us and told us she wasn't possessed she was just being a Wedding Nazi because nothing ever goes right for her on special days and she didn't want anything bad to happen to Joyce because she has this special day curse because every time a special time comes along since she died something always goes wrong, what are you looking at?"

John turned to Giles, "Is Willow's babble contagious?" He'd never heard his youngest son babble before.

Dean snorted. "I think it's a geek thing. If you're a geek and you spend too much time with Willow you'll start talking like her." He waved his hand at Sam who was still trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"Talking isn't contagious, germs are contagious." Sam said with authority. Dean seemed to think this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard and burst out laughing.

"I think you boys have had enough." John said with a grin. It wasn't often that either of his boys actually got drunk because it was dangerous if they didn't have someone sober to watch over their backs. It also wasn't fun to be the one who was hung over and being made fun of because of the stupid things you'd done the next morning. He helped up Dean and Giles helped Sam to his feet.

Fortunately neither of the boys was so drunk they couldn't walk and it hardly took a minute to get both of the boys back to the Impala. John fished the keys out of Dean's pocket and helped him into the back seat next to his brother. Sliding into the driver's seat John carefully drove all of them back to the garage. He thought about what Sam had said at the bar.

He didn't believe that there really was a curse on Buffy, but she had been getting more and more tense over the last three weeks. It had taken quite a bit before he could get her to relax. He smirked, of course that had actually been fun to do, so he didn't really have too much to complain about. He wondered what had driven her to believe that she had been cursed.

He pulled the Impala into its parking spot and parked it before turning to Giles. "We'd better get them up to bed." He turned to the back to check on the boys and got a huge shock. Sitting where not more than five minutes before had been two rather drunk young men; there were now two little boys sound asleep in his sons' clothes.

"Oh shit."

"Good Lord!"

John quickly hurried to the back of the Impala and checked each of the children in the back seat. A quick glance at each of their faces confirmed that both of the small boys were his sons. They had simply regressed in age rather than being replaced by someone else's children. "We'd better get them upstairs and keep an eye on them. I sure as hell hope that they don't get alcohol poisoning from being regressed." He didn't bother to wonder how it had happened to them; it was fairly obvious to him that someone had set a spell on the boys. "Do you think that you can figure out how to reverse this or do we need to call in Elizabeth?"

Giles sat in the car's backseat doorway and held his hand over Sam. "Ethan Rayne," he cursed. "Who the hell let that bloody wanker out? I never should have let those bloody Initiative brats deal with him. Well, the good news is this spell doesn't last very long, only about a week. The bad news is if I try to break it, we'll be stuck with an Ethan Rayne fully regressed to infancy." He looked at John; a bit reluctant to tell him but determined to get John to understand.

"I won't break the spell because I refuse to become Ethan's father. He would be come an infant in truth with no memory but he would still be addicted to chaos magic. There would be no way to return him to adulthood. He would have to grow up all over again." Giles gestured to the boys. "They will be just fine and the spell will run its course with no damage to either of your sons. Sam will have to miss a few classes, but I'm sure Willow would be able to help with that."

"Let me guess, the son of a bitch picked that spell because he knew you would refuse to break it." John shook his head in disgust.

"No, I believe that we were the targets rather than your boys. My guess is he spelled the whiskey the boys drank earlier. He probably had no idea they were with us or that the shots were meant for them. The last time he was in town he turned me into a Fyarl demon that way." Giles pulled out his cell phone.

"Buffy, it's Giles. Ethan Rayne is in town and he's left us a little present. Could you have Willow track him down before he gets away? And we need Wesley over at the garage. No, it isn't that bad, just a small matter that will sort itself out. Ethan's spell backfired and hit Dean and Sam rather than John or I. No, it isn't life threatening. No, he didn't turn them into demons, Ethan never repeats himself. Do not worry Buffy; it will all be taken care of." Giles hung up.

"What do we need Wesley for?" John asked as he eased Dean out of the car, struggling with his now oversized clothes.

"Well, I thought we might take advantage of the situation. Do you think either of the boys would consent to being ring bearers?" Giles smiled at John. "I know this is a bit of blackmail, but I think that might calm Buffy down until she gets a hold of Ethan."

John looked at Giles incredulously. "You have got to be kidding." Giles shook his head and reached for Sam. "Don't do that unless you want to get bitten. I don't know if Sam will remember you and he always wakes up if anyone but me tries to take him out of the car. I'll be right back."

Giles stared at John's back as he carried Dean up to the apartment. 'Bitten?' he thought. He turned back to the sweet looking little boy next to him. He had never really thought about what it meant that John had kept both of his sons with him while he was hunting for twenty three years. 'Had they ever had anyone else to rely on before?' The fact that they were both more than simply competent hunters was something that he had taken for granted. What else had he overlooked about how their lives had affected them?

John came back down the stairs and switched places with Giles. This time when he pulled his son out of the car, Sam left his pants and shoes behind. John shook his head. "I didn't think those would stay on." He muttered to himself. His younger son was bigger than he was, although much less bulky. Dean had taken after him that way. Sam was small now though, and John easily hiked him onto his shoulder, the movement coming back to him as though no time had passed at all.

The memories of how many times he had done this, moving his sleeping sons out of the car and placing them into the same bed together flooded his mind. If this Ethan had hit him or Giles with that spell it would have been a disaster, as it was John was actually a little thankful. Not that he would show the warlock any mercy. But maybe, just maybe he and his boys would be able to have a little 'normal' time together while they were children again.

He carried Sam up the stairs and through the door at the top, automatically stepping over the salt line without disturbing it or Sam. John then carried Sam into his own bedroom where he had put Dean to bed earlier. He stripped Sam's flannel shirt off, leaving him in just his t-shirt and boxers, then slid him under the blankets next to his brother. Both boys immediately cuddled into each other, the movements so automatic neither woke up.

John grinned, it had been years since the boys were small enough that they were able to share a bed with each other, but the old habits were still strong. Dean was still wrapped around Sam, just like he had been when John had found him in his brother's crib all those years ago.

Giles followed John into the apartment and watched him put Sam into his bed. He wondered why John had put them both in his room rather than one of the boys' rooms. Did it have something to do with the way they had grown up? It was fairly obvious that John was returning to some old ways of doing things although Giles had no idea what they were. John sat down on the bed next to Sam and waved Giles onto the end of the bed. "We have to keep an eye on them and they'll be scared to wake up alone." John whispered.

"Why would waking up alone scare them?" Giles asked quietly.

"Because it rarely happened until Sam left for college." John answered, still keeping his voice low. "If one of us was by himself it almost always meant that there was trouble of some kind. The boys shared a bed until they literally outgrew it. Even after that we were either living in motel rooms, very small apartments or sleeping out of doors. That meant that whenever they woke up if I wasn't there, the other one was within sight or sound if not within arms reach. It made for cramped quarters, but I was always too scared those demonic bastards were going to get by me to have them out of sight for too long. At least if I was hunting the demons, I knew I'd get them before they got to the boys."

Both of the older men sat watching the sleeping boys for a couple of hours talking quietly about the past before there was any change. Wesley came into John's room with the message that Ethan Rayne had been found and as he politely termed it, detained. Faith was currently watching him and knocking him unconscious every time he woke up. It wasn't until he peered over John's shoulder that he realized just what Ethan had done. "Oh dear," he muttered and adjusted his glasses.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 5

Ethan Rayne had tried to run from Sunnydale after casting his spell, but Willow had cast a tracking spell and Xander had known several shortcuts that had allowed them to catch up with him. Buffy was just glad that they had caught up to Ethan before he reached LA. She hadn't wanted to call in Angel. Now that she was with John, things were a bit awkward between them. That was always the way it was when she had a new boyfriend, the old one never took it well, but at least this time Angel had met John and he approved of him. Angel hadn't liked Riley and the little meeting between the two of them hadn't gone over well.

Ethan had been hitchhiking of all things, and had caught a ride with an unsuspecting man just outside of Sunnydale. When they had caught up with the men in the car Willow had sent a small magical charge into the car's computer shutting it down, and thus turning off the car. The driver had pulled off the road before getting out and fiddling under the hood, reassuring Ethan that it was probably just a small glitch.

Xander pulled his car off the road behind the stranded duo and Willow pointed out to Faith which of the two men was Ethan Rayne. Faith jumped out of the car as soon as Xander brought it to a halt. In a flash she was over behind Ethan and knocking him out. Then she picked him up and brought him back over to the hood of Xander's car. Willow hurried up to the driver of the car and explained that Ethan wasn't a very nice person and they needed to get him back to Sunnydale so he could go back to jail.

She cancelled the shut down spell as Xander made a big fuss over seeing whether or not Ethan had done anything to the driver. While Willow and Xander took care of the driver, Faith and Buffy were tying up and gagging Ethan. They put him in the backseat and got in on either side of him. After finishing scaring the poor driver into thinking he had picked up a mass murderer or something, Willow and Xander returned to his car. After getting in the car, Xander drove off back towards Sunnydale.

Xander looked in his car's rear view mirror and caught Buffy's scowl. "Giles said that it wasn't bad Buffy. Everything will be just fine. Dean and Sam didn't have a big part in the wedding, so whatever happened to them won't affect the wedding and we'll be able to deal with whatever Ethan did to them afterwards. Faith can guard,"

"Xander, enough, I do know all of this. I just want to see Dean and Sam and make sure they are alright." Buffy paused and punched Ethan who was stirring again. "I'm also pissed Ethan got away from wherever he was." Buffy said shortly. She didn't want to mention any possibility of her mother's wedding being compromised by Ethan's spell. Unless Giles had lied to her, and he wouldn't, the wedding itself was still safe but Dean and Sam had fallen to the event curse. What could Ethan have done to them?

"What I'm saying is that Giles said this isn't a very big problem, but it is a problem so everything else should run smooth. The curse has fired for this important occasion." Xander said, hoping that would work. Faith, sitting on the other side of Ethan, kept her mouth shut. Dawn had filled her in on all of the occasions that had gone wrong for Buffy since her death at the hands of the Master nearly four and a half years ago. It was an impressive list and she couldn't bring herself to disagree with Buffy's declaration that she was cursed.

"I'm sure they'll be alright Buffy." Willow said from the front seat. "Giles asked for Wesley, not Tara or Elizabeth. That has to mean that the spell isn't too bad for them. I'm sure it will be cleared up in no time."

"Giles said that Ethan never does the same thing twice Willow. That means the only thing we know for sure is that they haven't been turned into demons or costumes and they haven't been forced to think that they're teenagers again." Buffy bit her lip. "It's all the other things that he could have done that worry me, especially since the spell was meant for John and Giles."

"I'm sorry." Faith apologized. "If I hadn't knocked him out, we could have asked him."

"Don't worry about it Faith." Buffy sighed. "If you hadn't knocked him out he might have put a spell on us and then we really would have been screwed."

A worried silence filled the car after that. It would be another two hours before they got back to Sunnydale and could see for themselves what Ethan had done.

The first thing that registered in Dean's mind was that his head hurt. The second was that he was holding Sammy and that his dad's hand was on his head. It felt good and helped with the pain. Had he hit his head? Dean slowly processed the thought. His brain felt sluggish. Wait, Sammy was between him and Dad. That meant something bad had happened. His mind stalled again.

Something bad had happened! He sat straight up and grabbed his head, which had decided to explode. It was a minute before he could see through the pain. He tried to force it back. Something bad had happened and Sammy was hurt. Dean looked down at his little brother, but it looked like nothing was wrong. Dean looked his dad over, but there was nothing that he could see wrong with him either. Dean looked up at his dad and asked, "What happened to Sammy? Is he ok? Are you ok?"

"Everything is going to be fine Dean." John said quietly. "Someone just put a spell on you and Sam so we're waiting to see how the two of you feel. Does your head hurt or is it something else?" From the looks of things to John, Dean at least had gone straight to a hangover, which was a good thing as it hopefully meant that he wouldn't get alcohol poisoning from being reduced to about half his normal size.

"My head hurts, sir. I can't see very well, the lights are too bright and my stomach hurts." The answers came automatically while Dean tried to process the idea that someone had put a spell on Sammy and him. "Is Sammy going to be ok?"

John smiled, "Everything is going to be just fine. If Sammy wakes up, tell him I've gone to get some medicine. Ok, sport?" At the nickname Dean visibly relaxed Giles saw. There was definitely something going on in the undercurrents of the conversation between Dean and John.

"Dean, this is Rupert Giles, do you remember him?" This was the vital question but John already knew the answer. If Dean had remembered he would have said not only something about the fact that Sam was once again a six year old, but he would have made a smart remark about a semi or having a hangover.

"No sir." Dean said, watching the stranger covertly.

"He's a friend like Pastor Jim, do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Dean said and turned back to watching Sammy. Dad had said that Mr. Giles was someone he could trust, although he wasn't going to trust Sammy with him until he knew the man was alright. John got up and Dean scooted over into his spot, pulling Sammy into his lap. Dean checked the side of the bed, reassured when he saw the shotgun. Dad wasn't leaving him and Sammy alone with someone he didn't know, (even if he was supposed to,) without a weapon to defend him and his little brother. That was the last little bit of reassurance that Dean needed. Whatever spell was used on him and Sammy, it hadn't gotten Dad too.

It hardly took but a minute for John to get some aspirin and water for Dean. "Take this and drink the water slowly. You need to get as much of it as possible down but don't chug it or it'll come back up." While Dean took the medicine John checked Sammy's pulse. He was starting to wake up. "Ok, Dean here's the sit rep. The spell did two things to you. It gave you amnesia, which means you can't remember things you should know, and it regressed you, which means that this morning you were a grown up and right now you're a little kid. Do you understand?"

Dean sat and tried to think. His headache was beginning to fade, but it still was interfering with his ability to process what his father was saying. He thought he had the jist, but just to make sure he repeated back to his dad. "I can't remember stuff I'm supposed to, like who Mr. Giles is. I get that." He paused and stroked Sammy hair out of his eyes; it was time to give him another haircut. Dean hoped that Sammy wouldn't give Dad a hard time about it this time. Sammy hated getting his hair cut.

He knew by the way Sammy wasn't moving that he was awake now. Sammy always woke up faster than Dean did and he was very good at not moving until he was sure it was safe. Of course spending time at Pastor Jim's summer camp where Bobby would do stuff like hang water balloons over your head set to bomb your bunk if you moved wrong had taught them how to do that. "I'm not sure what you mean by being a grown up this morning and a kid now though."

John got up off the bed and went over to the far side of his dresser. Out of the top drawer he took out a small fire safe. He unlocked it and took out an even smaller photo album. He carried the photo album back over to Dean. He sat down and Dean rearranged himself and Sammy so that Sammy was across their legs and Dean was tucked under John's arm.

John was glad to see that Dean was as relaxed as he could be under the circumstances. He opened the album and showed Dean the first picture inside. It was of the three of them in front of the garage. "Dean this picture is of the three of us. Sammy is the tall one and the other one is you. This picture was taken about four months ago."

Dean poured through the pictures. Pictures weren't something that Dad took very often so these were important. "What's this one Dad?" He pointed to a picture of what looked like one of those fancy dinners he'd seen on TV. There wasn't a turkey so it wasn't Thanksgiving or Christmas at the house of someone they had helped. That had only happened twice, both times at Thanksgiving, but Dean had really liked it. They usually spent Christmas with Pastor Jim if they could make it.

John smiled. Dean would pick out the most important picture in the bunch. "That was the celebration we had when we destroyed the demon that killed your mom, kiddo. The lady at the end is Joyce and she and Mr. Giles are getting married tomorrow and we're going to help with the wedding. That girl next to you," John pointed to Faith, "Is your girlfriend. She and most of the others at the table are hunters of one kind or another."

Dean stared horrified at his dad. "MY GIRLFRIEND!" He started making gagging noises and pantomiming throwing up. There was just no way that he could have a girlfriend! He had sworn that would never happen. He'd given his solemn word. He had promised Sammy! John just laughed. Dean stopped and stared. He hadn't heard his dad laugh like that in years, not since Mom had been killed by the monster.

Sam sat up and peered over the photo album at the picture. He then looked at his dad. "Where is Dean's girlfriend? Are you teasing Dean, Dad?" He asked. He had never heard his father laugh like that. The last time Dad had teased Dean he had chuckled, but he hadn't laughed.

"No Sammy that really is Dean's girlfriend." John moved the album away from his body so Sam could squirm his way into a sitting position between Dean and John where he could see this mystery girl. John showed Sam the picture and began to point out the people in it. "That is you and the girl next to you is your sister, Dawn."

"When did we get a sister?!" Dean demanded.

"About ten months ago some monks used magic to make her. She is a real girl and she is your sister, so you boys be nice to her, do you understand?" John waited.

"Yes sir." Came the chorus. "Does she have a mom, Dad?" Came the question from Sam. John reminded himself that Dawn was worse and he had promised to be more patient with Sammy's questions.

"Yes she does. That is Dawn's mother right there." John pointed to Buffy.

"So, she was a little baby who got big by magic and we were big grown ups who got little by magic?" Sam asked.

"Yes, Sammy." John replied.

Dean just sat back and wondered how long it would be before his dad lost his temper with Sammy's questions. He hoped that it would be a while because the whole thing was making his head spin. "Is Dawn's mommy our mommy now?" Sammy asked.

"No, Dawn's mommy isn't your mommy just yet. We are thinking about it though."

Sammy wasn't sure why Dawn's mommy wasn't his new mommy, but he figured he'd better ask Dean later. "Did you really kill the monster who killed Mommy, Daddy?

"No, Sammy, I didn't kill it, your brother did." John looked proudly at Dean who didn't think he could take any more shocks.

"Dean did?" Sammy asked in awe. The hero worship that had never left his eyes grew to enormous proportions.

"Yes he did. We all got to help, even you, but Dean was the one who killed it."

"If we were big yesterday and we're little today, how are we going to help Mr. Giles get married?" Sam asked.

"Well, we were guarding Mr. Giles so no monsters could ruin the wedding by hurting him, but now he wants to know if either of you would like to be his ring bearers?"

"Yes!" Sammy shouted. That sounded like a ton of fun to him. He always liked to watch the weddings Pastor Jim did.

"Ooof!" John grunted as Sam bounced on his belly. "Down, you little scamp! I want my dinner to stay in my stomach." John grabbed Sam and bending him over his lap began tickling.

"Dean help me!" Sammy squealed. Dean couldn't believe his eyes. His dad was tickling Sam! Dean tackled John and they all fell of the bed. Giles hurriedly pulled his legs out of the way. It seemed that the boys had taken the news that they were children again well, although he now knew just where Dawn had received her inquisitive nature from.

Just then Wesley came in holding two small garment bags. "These are the only small tuxes in the entire town at the moment. If these don't fit, we'll have to come up with something else."

"Here we go boys." John set them both on their feet, and they stood trying to hold their boxers up.

Sam seemed to make the connection between his oversized boxers and the pictures they had been looking at earlier. "Hey! When I'm big, I'm bigger than Dean, Dad!" He started poking Dean in the stomach. "I'm bigger than you, I'm bigger than you." He sang.

"Not right now you aren't squirt!" Dean tackled his brother losing his boxers in the process. He didn't mind it was only guys there and his dad was watching to make sure they were safe. Right now he had a little brother to subdue. Sam was shocked at his brother's indifference to losing his pants and could only try in desperation to hold onto his as Dean was trying his best to tickle him into submission. John shook his head at the sight and turned to checking out the tuxes. Even shrunk back down to being kids again, Dean and Sam would always be Dean and Sam.

A/N: This chapter is for Frogstompinfun who asked for this chapter for her twenty first birthday. Here it is a little bit late, but the wishes are still the same. Be safe and have a great time!

Chapter 6

Buffy hurried into the Winchester garage and up to the apartment above. It was going to be terrible, she just knew it. There was no way it couldn't be with Ethan Rayne being behind the spell that had misfired on Sam and Dean. "Guys?" she called as she walked in. Giles and Wesley walked out of John's bedroom with small smiles on their faces. Buffy blinked, how could they be trying not to laugh when something horrible had happened to Dean and Sam?! "Are they all right?"

"Ah, Buffy," Giles began, only to be interrupted by a small whirlwind running out of the room with only a very large shirt on.

The whirlwind came into focus wrapped around her knees and transferred the energy into a multitude of questions. "Are you Buffy? Are you Dawn's mommy? Can you be my mommy? My Daddy says you're thinking about being my mommy. Do you like my Daddy?"

Buffy stared down at a mop of shaggy brown hair, soulful eyes, and an engaging grin that was continually pouring out questions. "Sam is that you?"

"Uhuh! Daddy says I was big and I got little! Did you know that when I'm big, I'm bigger than Dean?" The question came out in a rush with a hint of glee out of the small child. Buffy bent down and picked up Sam, settling him on her hip. Sam didn't stop chattering the entire time. "We can't remember stuff we're supposed to like Mr. Giles and Mr. Pryce and you but we're going to be ring bears for Mr. Giles! I like ring bears! They get funny suits that look like grown ups suits and I get to carry stuff for the wedding! Are you going to have a wedding with my daddy? I can be the ring bear for that one too! Daddy says you're a hunter like he is. Do you hunt mosters and ghosts too? I like it when Daddy takes us hunting, but he always says I gots to stay in the Impala cause I'm little. I'm going to be a hunter too when I get big again." Buffy nodded calmly at the little chatter box in her arms and carried him over to John's bedroom. "Don't go in! Dean's got no pants on!" Sam said in a stage whisper loud enough to be heard on the other side of town.

Buffy glanced at the Watchers, realizing just why they had their mouths covered and their shoulders were shaking. Little Sam was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. "Ok, I won't go in. John," Buffy called out, "I'm here and I've got Sam in the living room, ok?" Turning back towards the couch she sat herself and Sam down on it. "I'm not a hunter Sam, I'm a Vampire Slayer. That is kind of like a hunter but I don't hunt ghosts very often."

"Sammy!" a very embarrassed Dean came marching out of the bedroom with his father behind him with the intention of pounding on his little brother. How could he tell some lady that he had no pants on! Then he got a good look at Buffy. This was his dad's girlfriend? He stared at her with suspicious eyes. She couldn't be the one Dad had been telling him about. She was way too small.

He didn't like her, he decided. There was no way in hell he was going to like her no matter what his dad said. She wasn't pretty and she couldn't hunt and she couldn't keep Sammy safe. "It's bedtime Sammy." Dean picked his little brother up off the couch and carried him off to the room Dad had said was his. Sammy waved goodnight to everyone in the living room. Sammy was sleeping with him until the spell wore off and they were big again. That way he would stay safe. John caught a glare from his eldest and wondered what had set Dean off.

He collapsed on the couch next to Buffy. "How long are they going to be like that?" Buffy asked her Watcher, who was the only expert they had on Ethan's spells.

"It will wear off in about a week." Giles chuckled. "They are the sweetest boys, John. It is no wonder that you couldn't bear to part with them for any reason."

"It was too dangerous. It will still be too dangerous." John looked at Wesley and Buffy, "I'm going to need both of you to help me look after them for the week. Sam is a demon magnet and there are too many demons in this town that would want to kill him for Dean and him to be left alone."

"You don't even have to ask." Buffy said and kissed John, not knowing that Dean was watching from around the corner. "Ethan is tied up at the mansion, and Faith won't have to guard him during the ceremony. Spike can do that. The rest of us can take turns watching the boys tomorrow. We'll figure out the rest of the week later. I had better let the others know what happened to Dean and Sam." Buffy stood up and pulled her cell phone out.

Wesley stopped her. "We'd better tell Faith in person so she realizes we're not lying to her about her boyfriend."

Unseen, Dean shuddered at the mention of 'his' girlfriend. There was just no way could it be true, although he knew his dad wouldn't carry on a joke like that for hours. I'm supposed to be a grown up, he thought, so I guess maybe I could have a girlfriend, but she had better be a cool one! Not like her! Dean glared at the blond sitting practically in his dad's lap. The adults were going over the wedding stuff that bored him silly now, so he crept back to his room. He carefully stepped over the salt wards surrounding his bed and climbed in next to Sammy. He would keep his little brother safe.

"Dean," Sammy whispered, this time in a real whisper, thus proving to his older brother that he did indeed know how to do it. "Why isn't Dawn's mommy our mommy?" He wanted to know but he knew better than to ask his daddy. Daddy always got sad at mommy questions.

Dean stiffened. This was one conversation he really didn't want to have right now. He didn't want to be mean to his baby brother, but how could he explain? "We already have a mommy, Sammy. She's an angel, remember?" He had told Sammy the story lots of times.

"Yeah, but Karen's mommy died and she got a new mommy. Why can't we get a new mommy? Buffy says she's a Vampire Slayer, that's kinda like a hunter, so she already knows about hunting. We don't have to keep it a secret from her." Sammy tried to persuade Dean. "And Daddy says that they're thinking about it!" He said the last in triumph. He knew his dad always tried to do the stuff he said he was thinking about. Sometimes it didn't happen, but sometimes it did.

Dean sighed. He didn't want a new mother under any circumstances. But Sammy did want a mother and Dean knew that was because other kids had one and he didn't remember theirs like he did. Dean felt torn in half. One the one hand there was no way he wanted a new mother, but on the other hand Sammy wanted one really badly. Maybe he could pawn the pressure off onto someone else. Yeah, that would do it! He knew how annoying Sammy could be when he wanted something, and this way he wouldn't have to break his brother's heart by telling him that he didn't want a new mom. "It's not Dad's decision Sammy. All Dad can do is ask her and she is the one who says yes or no. Now go to sleep, we have to do that wedding thing tomorrow."

Sammy smiled at his brother. They were going to get a new mom! The thought thrilled him as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning when they showed up at the church, a somewhat frantic Faith was watching for them. In honor of the occasion she had forgone her usual leather and was actually wearing a dress because she knew that Joyce would like to see her in one. It wasn't easy for her. The heels she took too easily, her slayer abilities helping her to stay upright on the very slender high heels. It was the dress itself that she was worried about. Well, that and the fact that her boyfriend, the only person who could have possibly made this better for her was now ten years old instead of twenty seven years old. She was fully in Buffy's corner when it came to dating older men, especially if they were Winchesters. Dating Winchesters sure had changed both of their shitty luck with men. She only hoped that this wouldn't kill things between her and Dean.

She spotted her Watcher coming into the church and right behind him was a little boy. Behind them were Giles and John with an even smaller boy, so the first one had to be Dean. Faith raced up to Wesley who stared in shock. "Don't give me that Wes! It's for Joyce. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a place to hide my weapons!" Faith shook her head. "You all need to follow me. I'm supposed to show you where you're changing. Hi Dean, god you were cute as a kid. Promise me you won't laugh at the dress?" She pleaded as she hustled the men down the hallway to a room.

"You've got weapons hidden in there?!?" Was all Dean could say as he followed his dad. He couldn't see how she had hidden anything. She was wearing a dress and there was no place to hide stuff in one of those. It wasn't like she could stuff a gun into the back and pull her top down over it like he could with his pants and shirt.

"Of course I do." Faith smirked. "Look here." She knelt down in front of Dean as the others went into the changing room. "You see these fancy things in my hair?" Dean nodded. "Three of them are wood stakes and the other three are blessed silver stakes. You need to be up close to use them, but that's what usually happens anyway. I've got two guns under my skirt strapped to my legs and I've got a dagger hidden in the waistband." She gestured towards each as she named them. "I've got holy water here," She gestured to her cleavage, "And my shoes can double as stakes if I need them. I took out two vampires that way once. I don't think we'll have any trouble but it pays to be prepared."

Dean stared wide eyed at Faith. "I hit the girlfriend jackpot." He finally whispered.

Faith blushed and told him to get in the changing room. Buffy came up as Dean shut the door behind him. "Chill B, Giles and the guys are here. There's been no injuries, no abduction, etc. Everything's going great."

"Maybe Xander's right and the curse has already struck for this." Buffy muttered. She didn't dare get her hopes up. Faith gave her sister slayer a hug and watched as Buffy ran off to check on something else. She hoped that Buffy would be able to get through the day without having a heart attack from the stress.

Buffy checked on her mom, who looked wonderful, and told her that Giles and the others had arrived. Then she scurried around the church checking everything there was to be checked. It wasn't until she was checking the guests for the third time that she found herself wrapped in John's arms. She had no idea how he always seemed to know how much she needed to feel him wrapped around her with her head tucked under his chin. It had become her favorite position to stand in when she needed a cuddle. "Everything is going to be fine, Buffy. Calm down and enjoy the ceremony. It's almost time for you to get into your place." John said, rubbing her back.

"Was your wedding this stressful?" Buffy asked.

'Why did she have to ask that?' John wondered. "Ummm, yes it was, in its own way. You see, Mary and I eloped the night she proposed to me. I was half plastered and I'm not sure just how drunk she was. You wouldn't believe the hassles we had though, trying to get everyone who was drunk upright and finding someone who wasn't drunk to drive us to Vegas." John shook his head. "That was one crazy night. I barely made it back before I got into trouble. My CO couldn't believe I'd gone and done it."

"She asked you, huh?" Buffy asked, finally understanding why John had messed up his proposal to her.

"Yes, she was a hell of a woman. She always knew what she wanted and she just went out and got it no matter what anyone said."

Before Buffy could start to tease John about his proposal, Sammy raced up and threw himself at Buffy's knees. "See Buffy, see! I'm a ring bear!" He proudly showed off the tiny tux he was wearing.

"You look wonderful Sammy." Buffy praised, distracted by his antics. John was relieved that Sammy had gotten her attention off his previous wedding. The teasing he had gotten from the boys had been bad enough, he didn't need more of the same from his girlfriend.

"It's time." Wesley said as he came up with Giles. Faith followed holding onto Dean's hand. While Dean was busy asking Faith questions about the kinds of demons she had killed, Wesley was doing his best just to keep Giles from keeling over from stage fright. He had been so busy making sure that the wedding didn't have any supernatural problems and keeping up with his usual rounds of slaying, watching and running the Magic Box that it hadn't hit him until now that he was getting married. "Places everyone." John took his place on one side of Giles and Wesley took the other, together they herded him into the chapel.

Faith and Buffy both took one of the boy's hands and met Joyce and Dawn at the back door to the chapel. They were just in time for the wedding march to start. Faith opened the door and Buffy started Sammy down the aisle. Sammy concentrated very hard on walking just the way his dad had told him to. When he reached about a third of the way down the aisle, Faith gave Dean a small push to get him started. Dawn followed Dean, and Buffy followed Dawn with Xander escorting Joyce last.

When the wedding march started it took all of Giles concentration to stand upright. It was strange; he mused, that he could stand up to any number of demons and the like, but the sight of his family bringing Joyce down the aisle made him weak in the knees. Xander handed Joyce to Giles and went over to where Willow and Tara waited. Elizabeth was sitting on the other side, standing in as she had promised for the rest of Giles' blood family.

All three witches had quietly policed the guests to make sure that no one with ill intent had entered the church. The fact that there were such guests as Willie the bartender and several demons as well as Joyce's 'normal' friends made the precautions more than reasonable. There was no trouble at all through out the ceremony, even the presentation of the rings went well with Sammy piping up 'here you go Mr. Giles!' when he shoved the ring pillow at the groom. Giles smiled at the little boy, took the ring and slipped it onto Joyce's hand. The kiss was short and sweet and then Giles led his new wife down the aisle. They gathered at the front of the church for Joyce to throw the bouquet, and then at last, they got into Giles's car and off they went.

"Ok, ceremony over, now all we need to do is get through lunch and the opening of the gifts." Buffy muttered as she leaned on John while holding Sam, who was busy waving at the car.

"That'll be a lot easier to get through. They're married now, so the rest is just icing on the cake." John assured her.

"Easy for you to say John, you didn't catch the damn flowers!" Faith huffed. She had been sure that Buffy would catch them, but they had practically hit her in the face. Dean was looking at them like she'd caught a handful of slime demon mucus. "Don't worry, Dean. I ain't looking to get hitched and it don't mean we gotta. That's just an old wives tale."

"She's right Dean." John reassured his son. Dean took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. That was good, there was no way he was ready to get married.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 7

It wasn't until the reception that they could finally all relax. They were safe behind the walls of Angel's mansion and everyone and their presents had passed through the wards without incident. "Howdy ho, campers!" Jack walked up to the table where Dawn, Kit, Carlos and Faith were sitting watching Joyce and Giles open presents. The five of them had become great friends over the past month. "Who were those little kids Dawn? They kind of looked familiar." Jack said as he sat down with his punch and cookies. He was glad he had gotten the invitation to Dawn's mother's wedding. Joyce and Giles were good people.

"Oh, that was Dean and Sam. They were hit with a spell meant for my dad and Giles. A chaos mage wanted to get revenge on Giles by turning him into a kid to ruin his wedding. Ethan's been after Giles for years. They were friends when they were teenagers or so. They got into a lot of trouble with magic and the like for a few years anyway. Giles basically grew up when something went really wrong, but Ethan was already addicted to magic by then and he went on to worship chaos. Half the time I don't know whether he's just out to cause trouble because he hates Giles for leaving or if it is just because Sunnydale gives him the biggest rush." Dawn paused and shuddered as she remembered some of Giles tales. "Anyway, Dean and Sam will be little kids for about a week before the spell wears off. They can't remember anything from the last seventeen years, so they really are little kids right now."

"They are both so cute! Sam's a real chatterbox and Dean's still got his charm." Faith said, recalling Dean's jackpot comment. "We've got Ethan stashed upstairs so John can deal with him after the wedding. Xander is watching him right now so Spike could come down and see the reception." She gestured at the blond vampire sitting off in the corner. They could see that he was smirking at something beyond their line of sight.

Just then Buffy came over to the table holding Sam and a plate with Dean scowling right behind her. "Faith, Dawn, could the two of you stay with Dean and Sam? I have to go rescue John, a drunken demoness has him cornered. If she doesn't keep her hands off my boyfriend," Buffy huffed as she handed Sammy off to Dawn. Dean just scowled as he sat next to Faith. Buffy didn't notice as she rushed off to rescue John.

"What's wrong, Dean?" Faith asked.

"She can't fight a demon, she's a wimp! She'll get my dad hurt. And she keeps trying to act like she's my mom. She isn't! It's my job to look after Sammy, not hers!" Dean quietly growled to her. He didn't want to hurt Sammy's feelings and he was having a blast.

"Dean, you do remember that you aren't really ten, right?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, so what?" It didn't make any difference that he could see.

"Dean, I hate to tell you this, but you are usually older than Buffy is. She isn't trying to be your mom; she's just guarding fellow hunters who can't take care of themselves for a while. It's like you and Sam have been hurt. You need someone to keep the bad guys off you until the spell wears off. John doesn't just trust anyone to watch the two of you. You know that. It isn't because she's his girlfriend that she gets to take a turn watching you. It's because she's a slayer like I am. Besides, all she has to do is glare at the demoness, most of them are scared stiff of her." Faith pointed out to him.

"I thought there was only supposed to be one slayer at a time." Dean protested.

"Buffy drowned and Xander gave her CPR. She was dead long enough that the next slayer was called." Faith explained.

"This is Sunnydale. This town sits on the strongest hellmouth in the world. There are more demons of all kinds running around this town than there is any place else in the world, and Sam is a demon magnet." Dawn pointed out.

"I am not!" Sammy protested.

"Yes you are!" Dean, Faith and Dawn all chorused. They had all seen several attempts on Sam over the last few months from the random vampire to a small Demalkra clan wanting their own seer. He was almost as bad as Xander.

"Besides, it isn't just the two of you that are getting the helpless child treatment. None of you let me go anywhere without an escort of some kind. I swear Mom and Dad are both paranoid. Besides, if you really want to see Buffy act like a mom, check out how she hovers over me." Dawn said sourly.

"You're Dawn, Buffy's daughter and our little sister." Dean said, remembering her from the photograph that was in his father's album.

"Well, that was a little bit better than the first time. At least you didn't poke me to see if I was corporeal." Dawn smirked.

"You're the little baby that gots made big by magic like we gots little by magic!" Sammy bounced on Dawn's lap. "Why did they make you big? The big meanie that made us little wanted to make Joyce cry. Did they want to make your mommy cry? I don't like that big meanie! I like Joyce, she's pretty. Daddy wants to break something on the meanie. I don't know what cause he stopped talking when he found out I was listening. I wanted to help sooos Dean and I gots to be ring bears! That was fun!"

"Why don't we give Xander a break?" Faith interrupted. This was not the place to go into that. Dawn's cover story wouldn't last if they started explaining it in public. She gathered up her Scooby gang and took them upstairs to the room where they had stashed Ethan.

"Hey, Xander, take a break and get some cookies and punch." Faith said. "Is he still out?"

"Yeah, Tara just put him under. She thought that was better than having us keep hitting the jerk, even though we had lots of volunteers for that. She was worried about brain damage. He should be out for at least another three hours. That's plenty of time to get through the reception and for John to decide what we're going to do with him after." Xander got off the couch next to the chair that Ethan was tied up in.

Xander left the room and everyone gathered around the couch. "Ok, what are we doing up here?" Carlos asked. He hadn't understood a lot of Sam's babble.

"Dawn, do you want to do the honors?" Faith asked. "It is your life."

"I know I can trust all of you." Dawn looked around at her brothers and her friends. "Sammy, this is a secret. You can't tell anyone who isn't family, ok?"

"Just like hunting?" Sammy asked.

"Yes, just like hunting. I wasn't born. I was conceived, that means made, by magic. These monks took some blood from my mom, Buffy and some blood from our Dad and mixed it together with some magic to make me. Then they put some very strong magic in me to hide it. Then they made me big so I could defend myself if Buffy couldn't do it. Dad only found out what happened a little while ago. When he did, he sent you and Dean here to kill the hellgoddess that wanted to kill me to get the magic that is inside of me. You and Dean killed her and then you and Dad and Dean all moved here permanently."

"How old are you really? Do you know how old I am? What do you mean we moved here permanently? What does that mean? Did you help kill the monster who killed my mommy? Did it try to kill your mommy?" Sammy's questions burbled forth.

"I'm ten months old, so that means this November I will be one year old. You are twenty three and I mean that when you moved here, you aren't moving again. Yes, I helped to kill the demon clan, we all did. Yes, they did try to kill my mom, but we locked them in some dumpsters." Dawn said. She had no problems with the large volume of questions that Sammy spouted at her. She didn't know what her dad was thinking when he said that she was worse when she got to asking questions. She wasn't that bad.

"Dawn, I've known you for four years." Kit protested.

"Magic took care of everything, but only in Sunnydale. Sam looked, but there aren't any records of me anywhere else. That's why we came up with the adoption story." Dawn tried to reassure her friend. "It's not that you're not my friend, it's that the monks just kind of built me a background so no one would realize I'm Buffy's daughter instead of her sister."

That simple statement froze Jack in his tracks. Dawn was like him, sort of. She also had memories that weren't hers. Hers hadn't happened at all, while his belonged to someone else. They both were under a year old. They both had been made from someone else, rather than being born. Her background had been built by magic rather than Carter's hacking skills. It was unsettling to say the least.

The group settled in to talk, and Sammy eventually lay down with his head on Dean's lap and took a nap. That was how John, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Tara, Elizabeth and Wesley found them a couple of hours later, just as Sammy began to moan. John was quick to pick Sammy up and cuddle him on the couch. "Damn, I'd hoped that he wouldn't get these this week."

"Get what Dad?" Dean asked just short of panicking.

"He and I are seers, Dean. That means that sometimes our nightmares come true. Sometimes when we're awake we get visions. Go get Sammy something to draw with and some paper to draw on. He'll need to draw out what he's dreaming."

"Yes sir!" Dean said and ran out the door with Xander right behind him.

"Is there anything we can do?" Kit asked quietly as Sammy began to thrash around.

"Not if this is what I'm afraid it is." John shook his head. "We've been getting prophetic dreams of girls being killed by demons in robes. Sometimes they'll kill an adult along with the girl, but it always takes place out of the country and we have no way to warn or get to the people in our dreams. The only thing I can think of is that they are a warning."

Sammy woke up and began crying, clinging to John. Buffy sat down next to them and began to rub his back while John rocked him. Sammy startled and looked over at her like he was expecting another demon. When he saw that it was Buffy he unhooked one arm from around John's neck and grabbed Buffy, pulling her into a group hug. Dean and Xander hurried back in with a pad of paper and a box of pencils. Faith grabbed the pencils and pulling out her hidden dagger, quickly started sharpening them all. "Sammy, I know you had a bad dream. I have the same kind of bad dreams too. Can you tell me about it?" John quietly asked the little boy.

Snuffling, Sammy nodded his head. "There was this girl. She was where the president lives. I saw the White House. She was running from the bad demons. Daddy, they killed her grown up! I think she was her mommy!" Sammy dissolved into tears once more.

"Sammy, if you can draw me a picture I might be able to tell who the girl and her mommy are. Could you do that for me?" Wesley asked softly.

"Sometimes, we can make sure that what happens in the dreams doesn't happen in real life, Sammy. Can you draw the people in your dream?" John asked his son.

Dean showed Sammy the pad of paper and one of the pencils that Faith had sharpened. Sammy nodded his head and turned around in John's lap. The idea that they might be able to stop the demon helped to dry his tears. John didn't let go, but let him turn around. Even at six years old Sammy had a definite talent for drawing. Although the perspective was off, the woman and the teenaged girl were recognizable, as were the faces of the demons. "Harbringers," Wesley cursed. "My god, that's Grace Henry! She's a field Watcher." He pulled out his cell phone and began making phone calls.

"Harbringers, aren't they the guys who tried to get Angel to off himself a couple of years ago?" Xander asked Buffy.

"Yes, and we stopped them." She assured Sammy. "I'm sure that we'll be able to stop them this time too."

"Grace? It's Wesley Pryce. I'm with a seer and he's just had a dream that you and a young woman with you are going to be attacked and killed by Harbringers. Please tell me you aren't a Watcher for a potential. He's never been wrong, Grace! Get out of Washington now! Come to Sunnydale, we'll be waiting." Wesley hung up and knelt down in front of Sammy. "You did very well, Sammy. Grace and her Potential have been warned and are coming here to get away from the Harbringers. They'll be safe here."

"Not if we don't get rid of Ethan before they get here." Xander pointed out.

"Is there anyway to cut him off from his magic?" Jack asked. He had gotten through the world view adjustment about magic and demons, but he still was reeling from the news about Dawn. He shunted that to the side like he had been trained to, or rather the 'senior' Jack had. Focus on the problem and freak out later.

"There are binding potions. If Dawn makes one, she can put her power into it. There is no way he'd be able to break that." Elizabeth said.

"He's an addict, so do that and let him go through withdrawal." Jack suggested. He'd been through all kinds of withdrawal; that was a good enough punishment as far as he was concerned. Kit, Carlos and Jack had been told the stories of what Ethan had done on his previous visits to Sunnydale.

John mulled that possibility over. "Why is it I never get to just kick their asses if they're human?" He grumbled. The pain of withdrawal was more than he could inflict and binding his magic would prevent any more reoccurrences. "Ok Elizabeth, if you think Dawn can make the potion, do it and Buffy and I will kick him out of town after the two of you give it to him."

Elizabeth nodded and went downstairs with Dawn to brew up the potion. "Willow, Tara, Xander, can you get the kids home? Where is Spike by the way? Faith, can you take the boys over to the garage? Buffy, Dawn and I will be home as soon as Buffy and I take care of this creep, ok boys?"

"Spike's taking tonight's patrol, John." Xander said as he hooked up with Jack to take him home. Dean and Sammy nodded and each took one of Faith's hands. They knew that Buffy and Dawn would be staying with them while Giles and Joyce were on their honeymoon. Personally, Sammy was hoping that they wouldn't move out. Dawn was great about answering his questions, and Buffy gave the best hugs. Willow and Tara took Kit and Carlos out to their new car. It wasn't very big or new, but it would do the job of getting all four of them home.

John settled back with Buffy on the couch while Wesley paced. It wasn't long before Dawn and Elizabeth came back with the potion. It turned out that most of the ingredients were already in the kitchen and Elizabeth normally carried the rest. That information made John give Elizabeth a suspicious look, but as he knew Elizabeth would never harm Dawn, he let it go. Not bothering until the spell completely wore off, John began to try and wake up Ethan. Fortunately for Ethan, he did wake up before John got to the ice water bath he had asked Buffy to help him with.

John took the gag out of his mouth, while Buffy held him still. "Well, Ethan Rayne, you really have screwed up this time. Not only did you fail to hit Giles and me with that spell, you did hit my sons with it. That would be a very big mistake. You cost my youngest son some class time and he had to work extremely hard to get into college. You nearly cost my older son the girl he's spent years looking for. You could have killed them both with alcohol poisoning. None of that is going to endear you to me. So, here is a return gift from the Winchesters for your assault on my boys. You either drink this, or I kill you. It doesn't matter to me which you chose." He held up the bottle containing the potion.

Ethan didn't even have to think. He had seen the look in the man's eyes as he listed what had happened with his spell and knew he was dealing with a killer who would have no remorse for ending his life. He had endangered this man's family, and that was all it would take for the man to decide to end his life. "Agreed." Besides, while he lived there was always another chance.

John poured the potion down Ethan's throat and then Buffy undid the ropes holding him. Holding him by the back of the neck and by the arm, Buffy literally frog marched Ethan Rayne to the Sunnydale town limits with John watching her back the entire way. "I don't know why I keep telling you this; you never listen to me Ethan, but don't come back here ever again. That potion you drank is a binding potion and you now have lost all of your abilities as a mage. There is nothing on earth that is strong enough to break the spell, so don't even try it. I have to say that even though I know you will. Just keep out of our hair. Next time, John gets to do what he wants with you and no one is going to stop him." Buffy said as she threw Ethan onto the road out of town. Turning around, she slid her arm around John's waist and accepted his arm slung over her shoulders. Side by side, they walked home to their children.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the Tremors movies or any of the characters or creatures from them.

A/N: Yes, this chapter does contain yet another cross over. The Tremors characters included in this chapter are explained within the chapter so you don't have to have knowledge of the movies.

Chapter 8

Two days later John and his sons were at one of the parks on John's lunch break. Dawn would soon be joining them as soon as her classes at the high school were over. John had never been so glad she only had to show up at school for less than two hours. Faith would still be at school for the rest of the day, doing her patrols, but would join Dawn and the boys at the garage afterwards. Normally, if there was such a thing with his family, Dean would have been more than capable of looking after Sammy for the day while John worked. Now with so many people to watch over his sons at any given time, John was actually having a hard time finding time to spend with his children by himself, but there was no way in hell he was going to miss this opportunity to see all three of his children as children together. He only had a few days after all before his boys returned to being adults.

Dean and Sam were swinging on the swings when it happened. There was a low grumbling sound. "Quiet!" Like a switch, both boys were instantly silent. Without the sound of the boys laughter John could hear the noise clearly. He had only heard the sound once before. He had never wanted to hear it again. It was a sound that drove fear into the hearts of any sane man and he'd only met one person who voluntarily hunted the creature that made it. "Boys, climb!" One of those things wasn't going to get his sons. Both of the boys were instantly climbing up the swing chains, and John was climbing the pole next to him. They met at the top of the swings with John helping both of the boys onto the swing's metal cross bar. John carefully scanned the ground. If he was right, the damned thing would be right about, there!

There was a small lump of dirt slowly moving towards the swing set. Both Dean and Sam were silent, trusting that their dad knew just what that was and how it needed to be dealt with. John was mentally cursing up a storm. That should not be here! The town's under ground structure shouldn't have allowed it. There was too much rock and not enough dirt. The rock may have been soft sandstone but it was still too strong for one of those things to move, and moving through it should have been impossible, especially for one that size. That led to only one conclusion. Someone was trying to move and probably sell Graboid eggs. "What are you three doing up there?" A loud voice demanded. It was accompanied by a loud, sharp bark.

"SSHH! It hunts by sound." John shushed the teenaged girl walking her dog on the sidewalk. It was too late. The Graboid turned and sped for the girl and her dog. It was their only chance. John dropped and held his hands for the boys. They dropped into his arms and he ran, carrying them to the sidewalk. Just as he reached it, he heard the girl shriek, and the dogs barking abruptly stop. "Drop the leash!" John yelled. The girl did in a panic and stood there crying as the dog's collar and leash were spit back out at her. John pulled out his cell phone and called Willow. She was in a class or something right about now, but this was an emergency. "Willow, it's John. I need to know what the ground under Weatherby Park is; dirt, solid rock, caves, whatever. This is an emergency." John switched his attention to the girl. "Get on the street! It can't get through all the layers." That was one of the very important tidbits he'd learned from his weekend up in Perfection, Nevada. The process of making a paved road compacted the layers of gravel, dirt, and concrete too much for a Graboid to break through unless it was in terrible pain and even then the Graboids tended to break more than the concrete.

"John, most of Weatherby Park is a layer of shallow dirt over rock and caves, just like most of Sunnydale." Willow said after a few minutes of frantic hacking. John had caught her between classes at one of the internet cafés around the college campus.

"I need to know about the playground on the north side." John said keeping a careful eye on the little hump that was now disappearing into the ground.

"It's a shallow bowl of dirt about 2000 feet by 1670 feet, kind of in an oval shape. What's going on?"

"There's a Graboid in the dirt under the park."

"The playground is totally surrounded by rock, sides and underneath, it won't be able to get out of there, has it eaten anyone?" Willow babbled quickly. The Scoobies had watched on television the spectacular Graboid hunts of 'Monster Hunter Burt Gummer'. Because he succeeded with overwhelming firepower no one had bothered to tell him that the Graboids were actually a species of demon. He was perfectly capable of handling the job himself. Fortunately they tended to be one of the brainless types, a demonic animal rather than an intelligent demon.

"Just a dog, but it could have gotten the girl who was walking it. It shouldn't be here Willow. The ground is all wrong for one of these to get here on its own." Now that he knew the boys and the girl were safe from the Graboid, John relaxed.

"I'll tell Buffy. She'll probably go down to Willie's. I've got one more class but I can skip it. Tara can take notes for me. Do you want me to come down and keep people out until the Graboid can be dealt with?"

"That would be great, Willow. Once Dawn gets here, I have to get back to the garage. Xander and I can take care of this after work this afternoon, but people need to be kept out or someone's going to be eaten." John said, going over to put his arm around the girl and bring her back over to where the boys waited.

"Dawn's here, Dad." Dean said and wave over to his sister. "Don't go in the dirt! There's a monster in there!"

"What kind of monster?" Dawn peered closely at the dirt in the playground. Dean pulled her back into the street.

"It can't get you here." Dean said quietly.

"It's a Graboid, Dawn." John said and then turned back to his phone. "Willow, Dawn is here now, so get here as fast as you can."

"Can it get out?" Dawn and Sammy both asked. Sammy thought that if Dawn could ask questions, so could he.

John hung up on Willow and called Caleb. "No it can't get out, but those tongues of theirs have quite a reach, so don't get close." John said. "Caleb? It's John Winchester. Do you have any explosives I can buy today in LA? I need at least four sticks of dynamite. Well, you remember Burt Gummer? Yes, that nut case. I've got one of his Graboids here in Sunnydale. Thanks, Caleb. Don't you worry; I have no intention of getting near it. We'll be keeping people away from it; we don't want it getting any bigger. Thanks Caleb. I'll see you in a few hours." John hung up his phone and told Dawn to take the boys and get them into the truck. By the time they were in the truck, Willow had arrived.

"Willow this young lady had her dog eaten. Could you stay with her until she's calm enough to get home on her own? I called Caleb and I'll need to go to LA now if I'm going to catch him." John asked.

"No problem John. Hi, I'm Willow and I am going to be making sure that the Graboid doesn't eat anyone else." Willow said to the girl and sat her down on the curb. Willow waved at John's truck as they pulled out of the parking lot. "What's your name?" Willow asked as she sat down next to the girl.

"Nancy. I can't believe it ate my dog!" Nancy cried. "He was just a puppy."

"Well, that is what Graboids do. They are just big eating machines. Big, dumb, hungry all the time eating machines and they don't have any consideration for others because they have no manners or anything else. They kind of remind me of men." Willow said.

Nancy laughed. "Oh yeah, just like my ex-boyfriend, Ronnie. He was great at first, but I had to dump him after the last dance he took me to. I couldn't believe he had the nerve to just sit there and stuff his face while chatting with his friends and completely ignoring me. I was so tired of being his token normal girlfriend." She huffed and leaned into Willow.

"I gave men up after my boyfriend decided that it was perfectly fine to take off and leave me behind because he had issues and I was to just wait at home until he came back." Willow said. "He wasn't normal either, but at least he didn't make a big deal out of it."

"It was a rebellion thing; he wasn't really interested in me, just the fact that I was, well, human." Nancy paused and glanced at Willow.

"Oz was a werewolf." Willow offered.

"Ronnie was a Telknar demon. Most of them are really nice, but dating outside their species is a big no-no with the older generation. I didn't care; I thought he was a nice guy. He even gave me my puppy." Nancy shrugged, "Shows how much I know."

"Yeah, guys can be real jerks no matter what the species."

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"Willie are you telling me setting lose a Graboid in a playground is just a lover's spat!?!?!" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs. "MY KIDS WERE AT THAT PLAYGROUND!!!"

Willie the bartender blanched. "It was Ronnie, he's a Telknar demon. He set the thing on his human girlfriend because she dumped him. She walks her dog in the park every day. That's all I know, I swear!" Willie hoped that by spilling his guts before the Slayer fed him her fist it would tell her he was telling the truth. He did not want her to think he would ever put her kids in danger, even if he wasn't sure who her kids were. Then again, she was dating that Winchester guy.

"Where is he?" She growled.

"He lives over on fifteenth, the apartment complex, apartment 3C." Willie babbled.

Buffy dropped Willie and marched out of his bar. Willie looked around at his customers and said, "Next rounds on me, guys. A toast to the idiot who endangered the Slayer's kids, may he rest in peace." Murmurs of approval, (whether of the alcohol or toasting the death of the idiot was a mute point,) were heard throughout the bar.

"Wesley, it's Buffy. What does a Telknar demon look like? Because I have one I need to track down and kill. Because he put Sam, Dean and Dawn in lethal danger that's why! He set a Graboid loose at the playground today! Do you have any idea how many kids could have died? Ok, thanks. I'll let you know. Let Faith know that I meant it about doing something for her for letting me borrow her Watcher occasionally this week. Bye Wes." Buffy hung up and continued her march towards the apartment complex. Ronnie was going to pay dearly for his little spat.

Banging on the door to apartment 3C, she was not surprised to see an elderly Telknar poke her head out of the apartment across the hall. According to Wes, Telknar clans lived in groups and a single Telknar only moved out of a parent's nest to start a nest of their own. When they did start their own nest, they tended to stay very close to their parent's. That meant that most of the apartments or at least the ones on this floor should belong to members of the same clan.

"I'm looking for Ronnie and if I think for one minute that you're keeping him from me, I'll kill the entire clan." She growled at the elderly demoness before going back to banging on the door.

Knowing who she was, and that she was very serious from the look on her face, the demoness reached behind her and shoved a younger demon out into the hall and slammed the door behind him. "Ronnie, you set a Graboid loose in the playground at Weatherby Park today."

The demon gulped. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now it wasn't looking like such a sound plan. How in the world had she found out so fast? "She deserved it! She humiliated me in front of everybody!" He tried to explain.

"You missed her and endangered MY family!" Buffy said and swung the sword that she had taken out the minute he started talking. She hacked the demon into pieces, slowly. When his screams ended, she knocked politely on the door of the apartment he had come out of. The demoness peered out at her. "Thank you for not hiding him." Buffy said politely. "He set a Fren'k'Neel (commonly called a Graboid among humans) lose in the playground at Weatherby Park this morning. I don't know how many casualties there are but my mate and his children were almost eaten." She then turned and walked away.

The demoness shook her head. That little idiot really had called down the wrath of the Slayer on his head, well what was left of it. She looked around at the remains in the hall. She'd have to call his parents at work and get them to come and take care of what was left of him. She'd do it herself, but she was watching the clan's children and didn't want them left alone while she did so. She shut the door and walked back into her living room. The terrified children were huddled together in a pile. "That is why we fear the Slayer children. It is also why we appreciate this Slayer and wish that she will continue to live for as long as possible. Although she threatened the clan, it was only if we hid Ronnie from her. When I gave her Ronnie, she kept her word and only killed him. She then spoke to me and told me why she killed him. He had caused her mate and children to be nearly eaten by a Fren'k'Neel. Then she left. This Slayer doesn't believe that all demons are evil and deals with us by our actions rather than by our species, even the vampires get the same treatment. If they prove to her that they will not harm a human, she won't kill them. Always remember that she is the rarest of Slayers, any other would have just killed us all." The little demons all nodded at their caregiver. It was a lesson they would not soon forget.

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John couldn't believe that Caleb was meeting him at the bus station. It was far more public than most of his meeting places. "Caleb thanks for getting us the stuff on such short notice." He said as he loaded three crates of explosives into the back of his truck.

"Not a problem John. I still can't believe that's Sam and Dean." Caleb shook his head. Both of the boys were sound asleep in the cab of the truck, Sammy with his head in Dawn's lap and Dean leaning against her. Dawn waved her hand at the big black weapons dealer. "And that is your little girl? She sure is a sight. Don't be strangers now!" He waved at Dawn and left. It would be the last time anyone saw Caleb alive again. Harbringers were attacking a girl and a woman behind the station near where he had parked his pickup. Caleb threw himself between them and the women, allowing them to escape, but sacrificing his own life in the process. Sacrifice was a good description, because the blade used to end his life was one consecrated to the First and as he died, the First appeared in the form of the little Chinese girl that had been sacrificed to it a month ago. The First smiled, with the blood of the Slayer line weakening, it could finally begin to do things, like take over the body of someone sacrificed to it. The First slipped like a shadow into Caleb's body. Then Caleb stood and laughed.

John saw the two who ran around the bus station. It was Grace Henry and her potential. Although Wesley had forgotten to explain just what a potential was. "Grace Henry!" He called and waved once he got her attention. They ran for him the moment they spotted him. "Get in; we're heading straight for Sunnydale." He helped both of them into the back of his truck and covered them with a tarp. "The cab is full and this way you won't be seen. We'll have you safe in just a few hours. My son is the seer Wesley called you about."

The drive back to Sunnydale was a silent one. Dawn had known about Seers her entire life (all ten months of it she thought), but seldom had she been part of the rescue or prevention effort. Things were happening too quickly. First the zombies the first day of school, then her brothers being regressed to kids, then the Graboid this morning, and now Grace and her potential showing up? The nagging feeling in the back of her mind was growing stronger. It was uneven, growing in fits and starts, but it was never going away. She had to talk to Elizabeth about it soon.

Parking next to the playground, John turned Grace and her potential (he never had gotten her name) over to Willow and told her to take them both to Wesley. He would take care of the Graboid. Buffy smiled and hugged each of the kids as they got out of the cab. "Don't worry guys, there is only one Graboid and I took care of the demon that put it here. Willow made sure that no one else got hurt and that it didn't leave. So how do you kill one of these things anyway?"

John grinned and pulled out the remote controlled toy truck that he and the boys had been playing with this morning. He gave four sticks of dynamite to Dean and they watched as he efficiently loaded and secured the dynamite to the toy truck. John set up a remote detonation and said, "Very good, Dean. Now, who wants to drive the truck out there?"

"MEmememe!," Shouted Sammy, jumping up and down. He loved driving the remote controlled vehicle. John laughed and handed the controls to Sammy. He very carefully sent the truck up over the sidewalk and down into the dirt of the playground.

"Can I blow it up Dad?" Dawn asked, not wanting to be left out.

"Sure sweetheart, all you have to do is flip this switch when the Graboid takes the bait." John handed her the detonator. Then he went back to the truck and got the tarp. He also remembered what would happen next and didn't want to face a very upset Buffy if he could help it. He spread the tarp over their heads and got a set of very funny looks from his family. The reason for the tarp became very apparent when Dawn flipped the switch and a small 'bang!' sent up pieces of the Graboid everywhere.

"Ewww!" Shouted everyone in the vicinity. It was very disgusting.

"Maybe I can get Giles to reconsider explosives," Buffy mused as she picked up Sammy and led the others back to John's truck. The clean up crew was already there, so their part was done. Now they had to find out why Harbringers were after Grace and her potential.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 9

The family met at the Winchester Garage because John had to close down the shop for the afternoon on such short notice. Fortunately for his business, there was only one customer scheduled for that afternoon and the tow truck had just dropped off the car in front of the doors. He would have to skip patrol tonight, but Buffy understood. This was a regular customer who paid well and was continually breaking something on his car, due to the fact that he was an Eeefrill demon and just closing the door without crushing it was difficult for him. Even at a reduced rate for being a frequent customer the Eeefrill was putting together a substantial college fund for Dawn at the rate he managed to mangle something on his car.

They all gathered around the table in the break room and as Buffy passed out coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to those who wanted it she talked to Grace and the potential. She thought that the fact that they had put the potential, whoever she was, between her Watcher and Wesley had done the most good for settling the poor girl down. Faith was out helping John move the much dented vehicle.

"I'm Buffy. I'm the older of the two current Slayers. I was drowned by a Master Vampire and Xander here," Xander raised his hand and waved it a little, "Gave me CPR to bring me back. He's a Demon Hunter. My Watcher is Rupert Giles and he is on his honeymoon this week. Wesley here is Faith's Watcher. Faith is the other Slayer. She's younger than I am by two years. Kendra came between us. Faith just passed her eighteenth birthday this summer. She's been a Slayer for three years. Elizabeth, Willow and Tara," Each one followed Xander's example and waved as they were mentioned, "Are witches who help with any magic we need. Spike is a Vampire who has a chip in his head that renders him unable to harm humans." Spike just made a face. "He helps out for the violence."

Buffy tactfully didn't mention his paper marriage to Xander, which was appreciated by both men. "Dawn, Sam, and Dean are the Winchester kids. Dean and Sam are normally in their twenties but they are under a spell right now and we're waiting for it to wear off. All three are Hunters with their father who is my fiancé. Dawn is also studying magic." The last introduction brought a bit of excited looks to the Scooby Gang. "And I had better not see any bets being paid off Xander." Buffy said as she handed him his coffee and Spike his hot chocolate.

"Oh come on slayer! It's all just in fun." Spike protested.

"I didn't say you couldn't bet on my sex life Spike. I said I don't want to see any bets being paid off. Life is too short around here not to enjoy it."

"I'll say." Spike muttered, thinking of the belly wound he had received the week before and the time it had taken Tara and Sam to sew him up. It hadn't helped that Tara had to stop and throw up several times during the operation. "The Slaying's getting a bit nastier out there lately."

"And that brings us to the two of you. Sam saw Harbringers after you and he and John have been having Seer Dreams of Harbringers killing girls at least once a week, sometimes more often than that. Do you know why they are after you?" Buffy sat down as she asked the question. She didn't want to scare either of the two off.

"I'm Grace Henry as you all probably know. This is my Potential, Amber, I've heard rumors over the past month that Quentin Travers had gone missing and that some Potentials and their Watchers have gone missing as well. If our experience is at all similar to what the missing people have gone through they are dead. It was only your warning and chance that saved us. A stranger threw himself between us and the Harbringers. We would both be dead if not for him." Grace hugged Amber to her side.

"What's a Potential?" Sammy asked. He was glad that he had helped to save Grace and Amber, even if it meant that he'd had to have that scary dream.

"I'm a Potential Slayer." Amber told the small boy. He had saved her life with his warning. She was more grateful than she could say. She was also intimidated by the fact that she was in the presence of the current Slayers.

"What does that mean?" He asked innocently.

Buffy knelt down at his side. "It means that if Faith gets hurt and dies, she might be the next Slayer. It is kind of scary, Sammy, but it will be ok. Faith won't die for a long time." Sammy's eyes got scared and he wrapped his arms around Buffy for a hug. When she let go, he cuddled into Dean. Dean threw his arm around his brother and looked at Buffy with knowing eyes. "The Slayer line goes through Faith now Dean."

"She's not going to die for a long time and if she does, I'm going to be right there to give her CPR like Xander did for you." Dean said solemnly.

Faith came in just in time to hear Dean's vow. She knelt beside his chair and gave him a hug. "Thank you Dean. That means a lot to me." Her usual style would have been to laugh or make a joke about a Slayer's short life span, but she couldn't do that to the small boy who took his responsibilities so seriously.

"Ok, Wes, you and Grace are the only Watchers we have right now, so why are these Harbringers after Potential Slayers and I assume their Watchers?" Buffy asked sitting down and leaving the empty chair next to Wesley for Faith.

"Yeah Wes, I wanna know. Why are they going after the kiddies instead of us?" Faith asked. It didn't make any sense to her.

"I've been researching that question for the last two days and this is what I've come up with. According to our contact in the Watcher's Council Library, the First was bound by the creation of the Slayer line. It is able to assume the form of any person who has died. Those are the only facts I have been able to come up with." Wesley sighed. "Even those were extremely hard to come by. The fact that the First can assume the form of the dead came from Mr. Giles Watcher's Diary account of your previous dealings with the First, Buffy."

"It haunted Angel, trying to get him to commit suicide. It took on the forms of Angelus' victims. It wasn't solid though and I couldn't see it even when it was right in the room with us. It only appeared to Angel. We never did find out why Angel was singled out." Buffy said, remembering that rotten Christmas.

Who was it that decided she would never have a happy holiday? Even her mom's wedding had been hit with the curse, although it had mostly worked out. Still, having Dean mad at her and John for dating for a week wasn't fun. Even explaining that she wasn't trying to be their mom, she was just watching their backs had only mollified him a bit. As far as he was concerned, his dad should never date at all. She was going to be glad when the week was over and she had a reasonable Dean back. Little Sammy was cute as a button though. It was enough to get her to wondering if it would be a good idea to take a year off from slaying and have a baby. Faith was almost ready to take over.

It was John who interrupted her thoughts of babies. "Kill all the potential Slayers before they are called while they're still vulnerable, and then kill the current slayers and the First won't be bound any more." He said leaning around the doorway. "It or the Harbringers are thinking more along the lines of a battle plan than a 'oh if we do this we can end the world' plan." He went back to work, still listening in on the discussion.

Wesley turned to Grace. "And that is why it is always better for your Slayer to have friends and backup. I've worked on this for two days and that never occurred to me. John's had the information less than fifteen minutes and he figured it out. I'm much more used to dealing with a ritual or two that is designed to end the world. John is ex-military and his way of looking at things reflects that."

"Also it helps to keep you in balance up here." Faith told Amber as she tapped her head. "There is a lot of stuff that goes on besides the whole plunge the stake and move on bit that can screw with your head. That's why Wes makes sure I have time to spend with my friends and he even sent me back to school."

"I'm just happy to see that you are taking both so seriously." Wesley said to Faith with a grin. He knew that Faith had always taken her fun seriously, but he was glad to know that she was taking making and keeping friends seriously now.

"Grace, can you call the Council and tell them what we figured out? Even if they don't believe us at least we tried." Buffy asked with a sigh. "I don't know how to find the Potentials who are in danger, but any we can get to come here or go to England is one more that can be protected. If they are off by themselves or with just their Watchers they are in more danger than if they have some kind of protection. The two of you can stay up at Angel's mansion with Wes and Faith. It is one of the best warded buildings we have right now and the others are full up. Willow, Tara, I want the two of you to move in as well. If we start getting more Potentials here we need to start consolidating our protections. Elizabeth, Xander, Spike, it is up to the three of you if you want to move in or not. I'd prefer it, but I'll understand why if you don't."

"Hey, why do they get a choice?" Willow huffed at her.

"Because they aren't living in the dorms, Will. The dorms are too open and aren't easily defended. We don't want the Harbringers going after you, being bait is not acceptable. Elizabeth is living in Giles old apartment and it is heavily warded and Spike and Xander are living in a demon apartment complex. All of their neighbors know who they are and will help out if needed, unlike the people who live in the dorms." Buffy firmly told her friend.

"Buffy, what about Jack? Carlos and Kit live with their families, but Jack's by himself! His parents are dead and the Air force arranged for him to get emancipated minor status." Dawn said worried.

"Why did the Air force do that?" Buffy asked.

"Cause his dad was Air force before he bought the farm in a line of duty sort of thing." Faith answered. "Dawn Patrol is right B. Jack's by himself and he's been going out on patrol with us. The locals know about him."

Xander and Spike looked at each other and sighed in unison. "He can stay with us." Xander said for both of them.

"Thanks Xander, Spike." Faith and Dawn said.

"We'd better get going if we're going to convince him." Xander said and he and Spike headed out.

It was a short trip over to Jack's apartment. When Jack opened the door the first thing out of his mouth was, "What's wrong? Who's hurt?"

It was just the sort of thing they had come to expect from Jack. He had an amazing ability to read people. "Nobody is hurt; Jack, but we've had some really bad news." Xander said as he walked into the apartment. Jack had soon gotten the hang of not inviting people in, but it still made him wince every time he was reminded why he had unlearned the habit. With Spike standing right outside his door and being unable to come in, the reason was very much self evident.

Jack didn't wait for Xander to beat around the bush. "What is it?"

Xander nodded at Jack. It was just like him to want the facts up front. "It looks like we're heading into some severe shit, Jack. I'm talking major demonic heat coming in. There is a group of demons called Harbringers and it looks like they are out to eliminate the Slayer line. Somehow they've gotten a hold of a way to find all of the Potential Slayers and they've been killing them off. That was what Sammy was dreaming about.

"It turns out that the evil that the Harbringers worship, which is called the First, is bound by the Slayer line. Kill off all of the Slayers before they are called and can defend themselves that means there isn't anyone to be called when the current Slayers are killed and the First gets free to do what ever it wants. Grace Henry and her Potential Amber made it to Sunnydale today and Buffy has decided to offer shelter to any Potential who can't get to England and who we can get the information to. Grace is already calling the Council to tell them about it. Because she's basically making Sunnydale a target for the Harbringers, Buffy wants you to move in with us. The locals know about you and that you patrol with us. That,"

"Makes me a target, especially since I live alone." Jack broke in. "How many Potentials are likely to come here?"

Xander looked Jack in the eyes. "Knowing the Council the way we do? All of the survivors."

"Please tell me you mean that the Council will be sending the girls here." Jack pleaded, knowing in his heart that Xander wasn't. Xander merely shook his head.

"Those poncy wankers don't care if the kiddies make it or not. They might care that a field Watcher dies, but there's no guarantee there either." Spike said from just beyond the doorway.

Jack turned and ran for his bedroom. He might be stuck in the body of a teenager, but his mind was still the product of almost 30 years of Air Force conditioning and that meant that he was back out in his living room in less than two minutes carrying the bag that he always kept packed. "Spike, get in here and empty the kitchen of all the food."

Spike, who had been amusing himself by leaning on the magical barrier that kept him out of the apartment, fell down into the living room. He sprang quickly to his feet. "There are boxes in the hall closet. Xander, get the food out to your car. We're going to need the food, especially if we've got more girls joining us." Jack pulled out another pack out of the living room closet and began stuffing his weapons in it.

By the time Xander had the first box of food in his hands and was ready to carry it out to the car, Jack had all of his weapons packed and was right behind him. It didn't take any time at all before Jack, Spike and Xander had Jack's apartment emptied of anything edible, of use as a weapon or was something Jack wouldn't leave behind. As he was only about seven months old, this mainly consisted of some of his clothes, a picture of SG1 and a few of the others from the mountain, and the laptop computer that Carter had fixed up for him to send secure e-mail from.

"Where is everyone going to be staying?" Jack asked as Xander pulled out of the parking lot. He was sitting up front next to Xander, while Spike was under a blanket in the back. It really had to be a pain being so vulnerable to sunlight, Jack thought.

"Wes, Faith, Grace, Amber, Willow and Tara are all going to be living up at the mansion. Buffy and Dawn are still at the garage with John and the boys. Elizabeth is at Giles' old place. And that leaves us at my apartment." Xander said. "That was a good idea about the food by the way. I don't think we'll end up under siege conditions but you never know around here. We've had just about everything else happen to us."

The arrangements didn't seem like a good idea to Jack, but he knew better than to start ordering people around, even if he really wanted to. He had already pushed it with ordering Spike and Xander to clean out his kitchen. After dropping off Jack's stuff at the guys' apartment, they headed over to the mansion to see what they could do to help. It turned out that everyone was well settled in by the time that they got there, but Faith, Buffy were training with most of the others in the mansion's ballroom.

It didn't take long for Jack to realize that this was something he could help with. Dawn and Kit were learning some basic self defense from Wesley and he asked if he could take over. Having already assessed Jack's combat skills, Wesley readily agreed. Jack was determined that these girls, all of them really, would learn every dirty trick he'd, or rather Jack had, ever learned both on world and off. He was fairly sure that there were some Jaffa tactics that no one in this war had ever seen before, and that would help give them an edge. He was sure they were going to need every edge they could get.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 10

Sammy looked at the big calendar on the wall in Dean's room. Dawn had put it up there and had shown him how to cross off each day just before his bed time. There was a note on today's square that said Mr. Giles and Joyce were coming home today. Tomorrow's square had the big circle that said it was the day Sammy and Dean got big again.

Sammy wasn't sure he wanted to get big again; he had spent this week in absolute heaven. There was always someone to play with or ask questions from and best of all his dad and Dean had spent hours with him and hardly any on work or training. They had gone to the playground again, well a different playground since the first one they had gone to still had a big hole in the ground. He had gotten a new remote control car after that and so had Dean. They had raced them all over the place. Dad had read him and Dean a story every night before going on patrol with Buffy.

Buffy was wonderful. She gave piggyback rides that lasted forever and she had let him play on her computer and she listened when he told her things. They had even gone to the mall and they had played at the arcade. Dean, Dawn and Dad against him and Buffy, Sammy wasn't too sure that it had been fair for Dean and Dawn because Dad was terrible at arcade games. It had surprised him because he had thought his dad was great at everything except using toasters. He always burned the bread. He remembered one time his dad had gotten so mad at the toaster he had shot it. He was glad he told Buffy and Dawn that story cause it made them laugh.

"What's the matter Sammy?" Dean asked as he brought his baby brother his clothes. It was a pain washing the same set of clothes every night but they were only going to be little for a couple more days, so it didn't make sense to buy more than one kid's outfit for each of them. They had lots of clothes that would fit them after the spell wore off.

"Do we have to get big? I like being little now. It's a lot more fun now than it was before." Sammy said as he got dressed.

"That's because the demon that killed Mommy is dead and Dad feels better." Dean said with authority. "He used to play with me like this before Mommy died."

"I'm glad you killed it Dean cause I like Dad a lot better this way. I don't like it when he gets so sad." Sammy said firmly. "Did he really play with you like this all the time?"

"Yep, we used to play football and baseball, just like we did with Dad, Xander, Jack and Carlos. It was better this week cause we had more people and Xander, Jack and Carlos are great! I still can't believe Jack played catch with us when Dad and Xander had to go kill that vampire that grabbed Dawn last night to make us move. Like we'd really move just cause a vampire said so! Dawn says there was so much dust when they got done that she had to take two showers." Dean said. "We can still play like that when we get big Sammy. We'll just be able to do other stuff too, like going on patrol and Dad says you are going to college to be a doctor."

"I don't like doctors!" Sammy said, shocked.

"That's why you want to be one. If you're a doctor, we don't have to go to the hospital and have someone else stitch us up. You can do it." Dean explained.

"Are you sure I can do that?" Sammy asked.

"You can do anything Sammy. You're super smart." Dean said proudly.

"He sure is Dean." John said coming into his room. "I'm really proud of both of you; Sammy for being so smart and wanting to take care of us and Dean for being such a good hunter and wanting to protect people." John sat on the bed and pulled both of his son's close. He would miss this but at the same time there was no way he wanted his sons to be so small and defenseless when the Harbringers came, and there was no doubt that they would be coming. "Let's go boys. Mr. and Mrs. Giles just got back and we need to get up to the mansion." He stood up, still holding onto the boys, who were more than happy to be carried, knowing that soon they would be physically too big for him to carry.

Giles was deep in an argument with Grace when the group from the garage arrived. Amber it seemed was a typical Council trained Potential and she and Grace were having trouble adjusting to the easy and rather chaotic way the Scoobies ran their operations. They had the most trouble with Wesley and Giles easy acceptance of Jack, Kit, and Carlos.

"Good God Woman! Where do you think the American's get their Demon Hunters? They don't breed them the way we do. When an American is touched by the supernatural, if they manage to survive, they make a choice. We've been very fortunate here in Sunnydale. Five of Buffy's friends have chosen to fight at her side over the past five years. In fact, during her graduation from high school, the entire graduating class fought. She started with two who refused to allow her to fight alone.

"Faith has been even more fortunate. She has started her second tour of duty on our hellmouth with four such friends. They have every right to chose to fight. Jack is more than competent in hand to hand combat and has taken it upon himself to teach every dirty trick he has ever learned from his father to the rest of us according to Buffy. While I am more than familiar with most of them, there are more than a few I have never seen before. One of them saved his life on patrol last night according to Xander and those are skills that can save more than just your life, it may also save Amber's. Do not be so hasty to try and run off those who can help you and your Potential.

"Five years ago I would have said there was nothing Xander or Willow could contribute, just as you are saying Jack, Kit, and Carlos can not. Willow and Xander proved me how wrong and judgmental that type of attitude is. We cannot now nor can we ever afford to turn such help down. We never would have survived our first apocalypse, much less Acathla, the Mayor's ascension, Adam's rampage, Glory's attempt to tear the dimensions apart, or the Hectalik swarm without the help that was freely given from volunteers like these." Giles waved his hand at both groups of Scoobies who were in the middle of attacking Faith. Grace gasped as Kit took Faith down when Xander distracted her.

"You're dead Faith." Jack said and helped her up.

"You let yourself get distracted Faith." Wesley said. "Go again, and this time I want you to pay better attention to all of your opponents, not just one or two that you think are the most dangerous. Even though Kit is the least dangerous she was able to 'kill' you because you were distracted."

Faith nodded and began again with Dawn entering the fight. "Next time the two of you can join in." Buffy told Dean and Sam as they and John walked over to where Giles, Grace and Amber were watching the training fight.

Faith's 'death' at the hands of a powerless and in Grace's opinion, rather worthless girl, shocked Grace into speechlessness. "That is how the enemy really fights Grace." Wesley said quietly as he moved to join the group watching. "They will do their best to overwhelm the Slayer. This has become especially true here on the hellmouth lately. It used to be that Buffy would encounter two or perhaps three vampires a night. Last night there were no less than ten vampires, all of them out to cause trouble. Both Faith and Buffy were occupied with two different demons and couldn't deal with them. This type of situation is happening more and more often. Dawn, Willow and Spike have all spoken to Elizabeth and she has looked into it. It seems that the hellmouth is becoming more active. We don't know why, because usually when a hellmouth becomes more active it is being opened and that isn't the case here."

"Two of the demon families have moved out of Xander and Spike's apartment complex. They left Sunnydale completely. That isn't normal demon behavior." Buffy said as she lifted Sammy onto her shoulders. "They hadn't lost their jobs, none of us had killed a member of the family, they just up and left."

Giles frowned. "Do you know what species they were? Some demon types are more sensitive to the hellmouth than others." The discussion about the strangeness they were experiencing lately ran on for hours, only stopping when it was time for patrol.

Grace and Amber were sent with Faith's group, or S2 as Jack liked to call them for some reason. The strange nickname was starting to stick. It was by far the largest group and most often simply went after vampires rather than any other demon. As Wesley explained to Grace, if they could keep the vampires contained, then the Slayers could deal with the stronger and more violent demons. Amber, Kit and Dawn were sent out together as bait for the rest of the team. Amber really didn't understand the concept of being bait.

She walked along rather mechanically, looking all around and trying to spot the vampires. "No, you aren't getting it." Kit finally said with frustration. She pulled Amber over to a drinking fountain and looked the younger girl right in the eyes. "The reason the Powers pick girls who are small and dainty is so the demons won't see what's coming. That's why Buffy is so good. They can't believe that a little thing like her can hurt them. She also has mastered the 'dumb blond routine' and you need to learn it fast. No looking around in suspicion. You are just an air head kid out for a stroll with your friends who also have no idea that there is anything bad out here. We are trying to look harmless and tasty."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "You look like you're about to walk into a trap. Remember, we're the bait for the trap. So loosen up or so help me I'll start tickling."

"You wouldn't!" Amber said in shock.

"Oh we wouldn't?" Kit asked and tackled her to the ground. Dawn jumped in and soon the girls were a writhing, giggling mess on the ground. It was just what was needed. Before Amber could squeal that she gave up, they were interrupted by a large group of six vampires.

Jack and Carlos jumped on one and dusted it before it knew they were there. Wesley and Grace each took a vampire and managed to hold their own. Faith took on two vampires and the girls took out the last one before they went to help Grace as Jack and Carlos were already helping Wesley. With Kit hanging off the vampires back, covering its eyes, it was an easy kill for Grace. Wesley, Jack and Carlos had their vampire dust within seconds. Faith was playing with the last vampire, knocking it around while she kept an eye on the rest of her team. As soon as they finished their vampires off, she kicked hers into a headstone and tossed her stake to Amber.

"Go for it." She said shortly. Amber, realizing that she didn't have any time before the vampire recovered, ran forward and quickly dusted the vampire as he started to sit up. "That's real good, Amber. Is everybody ok?" She called.

"No." Wesley said shortly. He was holding onto his left arm. Carlos had a bump on his head he was holding. Jack was limping. Grace was holding her side and Kit had a cut on the side of her face. "But we don't seem to need a hospital either. Let's head over to the garage. John should be there. He didn't want to lose any time with his boys tonight."

It was a battered group that made its way to the Winchester garage. They encountered three more vampires on the way. Faith instructed the uninjured to guard those who were hurt and took care of the vampires easily. As they walked into the apartment, John was playing poker with an adult Dean and Sam. Seeing the battered group, Sam grabbed the first aid kit while Dean and John took care of the triage. Grace and Wesley were first to be treated by Sam and John while Dean checked out Carlos.

"Two slashes, but they don't need stitches. Dawn, give me a bunch of butterfly bandages and some antiseptic." Sam said.

"Single slice and it's deep enough to need stitches, but she doesn't need to go to the hospital," was John's opinion of Grace's injury.

"No concussion, but you've got a hell of a bump Carlos. Kit, let me see your face." Dean said. "No need for stitches for you, sweet heart. Dawn, I need a few of those butterflies too."

Dawn made herself useful by passing out whatever was requested from the first aid kit. Amber was shocked at the size of the kit and the variety of the things contained within it. There was everything from Advil and band-aids to a full surgical kit complete with professional needles and thread for stitches, both dissolving for internal and non-dissolving for external. With all three Winchester men working on the needed first-aid, it didn't take long before everyone was patched up.

"I've got an idea." Sam said after finishing wrapping Jack's ankle. "We should be set up at the mansion for this. We don't have enough room here for a full treatment room."

"You're right, Sam." John said. "It was easier when there was only the three of us but now we need a bigger triage area."

"Who are you?" Amber asked.

"You already met us Amber." Dean smiled and he pulled Faith into his arms. "I'm Dean and that's Sammy."

"It's Sam." Sam interrupted. "The spell wore off jerk." He threw an ace bandage at his brother.

Dean caught it and threw it back. Sam just stuffed it back into the first-aid kit. "The spell wore off a little sooner than we had figured it would. Kit, Carlos both of you need to call your parents and arrange for a sleep over if you haven't all ready." Both teenagers said that they had already made arrangements.

"I'll take everyone back to the mansion." Sam said and helped Jack to his feet.

"Take the truck." John said and tossed Sam the keys.

Sam got everyone down but Faith and Dean down the stairs and into the truck. When the last one was down the stairs Dean sent Faith off to his room with a whisper in her ear. She grinned and slowly made her way to his room, flirting the whole way. When the door closed Dean shook his head and turned to his dad. "Um, I just wanted to apologize for being such a little shit this week about Buffy. When I was a kid, I really missed Mom and I didn't understand how you could even think about anyone else."

"That's ok Dean. Buffy and I both understood why you would feel that way. Now get back to your Slayer before she gets miffed your taking too long. She's been waiting all week for you to grow up." John grinned at the double meaning while Dean blushed and ran back to his room and his girl.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 11

OCTOBER 30th

John sat down next to Sam on the couch in their apartment. "Are you sure you don't want us to go with you?" John asked Sam. He would put off visiting Mary's grave if Sam needed him to. While this trip was important to him, he wanted his son to know that he was more important than a simple visit to the dead, even this year.

"No Dad. We need to do it this way. You need to see Mom and tell her we got the bastards and I need to see Jess and the baby." Sam choked up a little. That was how it had solidified in his mind. It wasn't just Jess that was buried in that grave; it was Jess and the baby.

"I really think your mom would understand if we were a day late or early, Sam." John said. He squirmed just slightly. This was going to be hard to say, but Buffy been pushing him, telling him how much Sam needed to hear him say the words. "Please don't be stubborn about this. I know I needed the two of you badly that first year. You'll need someone and I don't want you to be alone."

"Dad, I won't be the only one there, and I kind of let them think you were a drunk." Sam winced; he really didn't want to have to confess to that lie. He really didn't have much of a choice of what to tell his 'normal' friends though that would explain without explaining why he didn't have any contact with his family.

"I never minded you or your brother using that story, Sam. The after effects of the visions make me look like one and it keeps people from asking too many questions you can't answer." Here at least John was back on solid ground.

"You really don't mind?" Sam asked hesitantly. It wasn't something he had liked implying because it made others worry about what else John had done to him. He couldn't explain to others that John's idea of discipline had been push ups and extra chores like making silver bullets rather than beating him or his brother. The scars he carried hadn't come from his father, but his friends hadn't known that.

John had never raised a hand to either of his sons in anger. The worst they had gotten was a single swat to the butt when they were still young enough to not remember to not smudge the salt line wards that were the first his father had learned to make. He simply had never had the heart to hurt them in that fashion Sam knew without a doubt. He also knew it really wasn't his father's fault that he hadn't been the most emotionally available parent. Grief does strange things to a person and he had been seeing the dad his brother knew before the fire more and more these last few months as his father learned to live again thanks to Buffy.

"Of course I don't mind. If I'd minded I would have told you years ago. There aren't a whole lot of excuses you can give after all."

Sam nodded, he did know that but still, being called a drunk when you had hardly ever even had a beer for the last ten years wasn't something most men would appreciate, but then for as long as he could remember, his father hadn't been like most men. "Can we come up for an excuse for the scars? I never answered when someone asked but I knew that some of them at least thought that you gave them to me. I don't want you to get looked at like that Dad. I saw enough of it when the CPS people kept coming around."

John nodded. That would be the hardest thing to come up with. Sam's scars, hell all of their scars were not only widely different from one another, indicating that their origins were different but they also varied greatly in their ages as well. "Too bad you aren't more like Dean; we could have said that ran with a gang for a while."

Sam snorted. "There is no way that any of my friends would ever believe that I ran with a gang," he agreed. "Jessica's family wouldn't either. I never could figure out a convincing story for them, so I just refused to talk about it."

"That was probably the best you could do under the circumstances." John agreed. "The only story I can think of is that you were a klutz as a teen; either that or that guy that grabbed you as a kid made them. The klutz story is somewhat believable with your height and the rest, well if I hadn't caught that son of a bitch who knows what he would have done to you."

John shuddered, remembering the few tense moments he had when Sam had been grabbed coming back from the bathroom at a pit stop one day. He did remember times during Sam's teen years when he had tripped over his own feet, but even then the training in martial arts that Sensei had given him over the years ensured that Sam hadn't gotten more than a few bumps and even fewer bruises. He was very glad that the only times his boys had really gotten hurt were during a hunt.

"What guy?" Sam asked confused.

"When you were about five or so a man named Grayland grabbed you coming back from the bathroom at a gas station. Dean saw him trying to put you in his van and yelled for me. He was running to get you away from the guy, but I was closer." John grin was feral. "Let's just say that the cops weren't real happy with me but they looked the other way considering what was in his van and what he had planned for you. Later I heard the judge had said that they should have let me finish what I had started."

Sam snorted. He knew his father well enough to imagine what John had done to the man. The thought flashed through his mind of 'what if it had been his kid?' He was only a little shocked to realize that it wouldn't matter to him if the guy was human rather than a demon or monster, he would give them the same treatment he gave Meg. It was odd, how these little flashes of thought would run through his mind. His child had never gotten a chance to live and yet, he was still had the thoughts of what he would do to protect that child. Somehow it didn't surprise him to figure out that he would be just as protective as his own father had been of him.

"Let's go with that. No one is going to think it is funny if we don't want to talk about it if they came from a pedophile." Sam said and John nodded. Mary would understand why they were late. He and Dean would be there for Sam on the first anniversary of his girl and child's deaths.

October 31-Halloween

"No matter what the books say, Halloween has never been a night off here in Sunnydale." Buffy told the newbies. Elizabeth, Jack, Kit, Carlos, Grace and Amber were seated on and in front of the couch in the main living room of the mansion watching Buffy pace.

"That being said, it usually isn't vampires we have to deal with. Usually the problem lies with the different types of magic users and the like. We had a chaos mage, Ethan for those of you who remember him, spell kids costumes so that what ever costume they chose, they turned into. It was not pretty. There were lots of little demons and monsters that we couldn't kill running all over causing havoc. We've also had a group of kids who didn't know what they were doing conjure up a fear demon. That was also not fun.

"Elizabeth, Spike, Willow and Dawn have all been saying that something is up with the hellmouth. That means we should be expecting trouble tonight. Someone will take advantage of it. You may end up dealing with drunks causing problems tonight. If that is all the trouble you find, be grateful. Wesley and Faith will be taking the hellmouth patrol. John, Giles and I will be taking the college campus. Xander, Spike and Willow will be taking the area around Willie's Alibi. Dean, Sam and Tara will be taking downtown. You will be taking the cemetery rounds.

"We have radios to keep in contact with each other. Check in every thirty minutes, sooner if you find something. If you find something that you need help with, yell! We all have vehicles and will get to you as soon as we can. We are trying to cover all of the hot spots tonight so don't think that we're shuffling you off to protect you. Grace, Amber, Dawn and Kit will be taking the northern cemeteries. Jack, Carlos and Elizabeth will take the southern cemeteries. You each have one magic user with you. Listen to them. Remember that tonight's trouble will most likely fall into their area of expertise. Ok, that's it, lecture over. Get together with your patrol group and figure out your routes, weapons and the like."

"Do you really think we'll find anything?" Jack asked as he stood up. He wanted to know the odds. With his luck, his group would be hip deep in shit before the night was half over. He also didn't like breaking up S2, but he understood Buffy's reasoning.

There was no way she was going to break up Grace and Amber and both of the groups needed an adult as well as a magic user. Dawn and Kit were used to watching each others backs and it really would be a bad idea to only include one person who knew the hellmouth with Grace and Amber. They were still FNG's and would need experienced back up that could pull rank if needed. (He ignored the fact that almost all of S2 also rated as FNG's. They just weren't as bad as Grace and Amber.) Dawn was stubborn enough and Kit would back her. He and Carlos on the other hand, would be suspected of being chauvinistic males if they tried it. That still didn't mean he was happy about his team being broken up though.

"If something is going to happen in the cemeteries tonight, it will most likely happen on the south side. I'm just trying to cover all the bases, Jack. If I run into trouble I may end up yelling for your help, so don't slack off. Stay within sprinting distance of your vehicle. I expect trouble to be at the high school or the college, but I don't want to put all of our eggs in two baskets and miss something somewhere else." Buffy said and ran her hands through her hair. She didn't know how Xander did this General stuff. "I've got a feeling tonight is going to be bad."

"It sounds to me like you've got things covered well. Don't worry about us. You just call for reinforcements if you need us." Jack gave Buffy a stern look. Trying to swallow her smile as so not to offend his dignity, Buffy nodded. The last thing the kid needed was to be told he was cute when he tried to pull off that look. He just didn't have the years to pull off Giles' sternness special.

They followed Buffy into the dining room where the men were working on preparing the weapons and radios for tonight's patrol. "Everybody, if you have wounded but they aren't hurt badly enough for the ER, bring them here, not the garage." Sam spoke up as he passed out shotguns and shells. "I'm setting up this room as the triage area as soon as the weapons are passed out. Don't worry about taking someone to the ER. That's what it is there for and more than a few of the doctors and nurses know about what goes on here at night. I'm just setting up for patch jobs."

Everyone nodded at this by now standard speech. In the last three weeks all of them had been hurt at least once. Sam and John had proven themselves to be more than adequate medics but it was Sam who ran their little infirmary. It was the one place where John took orders from his son. Knowing that taking orders from him wasn't something that came easy for John but that he did it without hesitation here, Sam had asked his dad why.

John had looked up at his son and simply said, "You're the one who is going to be a doctor. You already know everything I can teach you about field medicine. This is your place Sammy. I meant what I said, I'm proud of you." Quickly backing away from the chick flick moment John had gone on to talk about their medical supplies. Sam had gone along with the change of subject. He knew it wasn't easy for his father to talk about his feelings.

Once the other patrols were out; Sam, Dean, and Tara set up the infirmary before they left. Dean was in charge of their patrol and he had made sure that they took the Impala to the downtown area. He wasn't going anywhere without his baby. He and Sam were wearing black dusters and cowboy hats while Tara was wearing a simple white gown with leaves and vines braided into her hair. The gown was short enough to run and fight in if she needed to but all three of their outfits were also obviously costumes so they didn't look out of place among the trick-or-treaters that were bound to be downtown tonight. All three outfits had also been chosen because they provided easy access to their weapons of choice. Dean and Sam were carrying shotguns, pistols, knives, daggers, extra ammo, stakes, holy water pistols, and crosses. Tara had magical components and already made potions in bags that hung from a belt around her waist. The belt had been a gift from Elizabeth.

Tara had a gift for working with potions and charms as well as seeing magical energy and auras. That made her a fairly strong witch but she knew she was no where near Willow's league. Now that Elizabeth had taken Willow in hand and began serious magical studies, her power base was growing by leaps and bounds. Dawn had the exact opposite lessons. She was being taught how to use smaller and smaller amounts of her power so as to be able to use precision rather than simply overwhelming reality. Tara thought Dean's example of using a pistol rather than a rocket launched missile rather appropriate.

"Buffy, so far so good, there are a lot of trick-or-treaters out tonight, but we haven't run into any trouble." Dean said, checking in with the elder slayer.

"Lucky you, we've already had two drunks hit on Willow." Xander said. The radios were on a group frequency so everyone could hear what was going on.

"Nothing is going on here. We had a couple of kids try to sneak in to make out but that's it." Faith said.

"Clear on the south side cemeteries." Jack said.

"There's nothing here either." Dawn said. "I can't believe it's so quiet."

"Don't jinx us, Dawn Patrol." Xander pleaded.

"Too late, Xander," said Buffy. "I need everyone at the college science building NOW! We've got a giant spider problem." It was a bit of an understatement she thought as she watched the giant spiders pour out of the building. "John, take the right side, Giles take the left." She gripped her axe and launched herself at the spiders in front of her.

"I hope they get here soon." She muttered to herself. The next fifteen minutes were a blur of axe swings and the sounds of gun fire letting her know that John and Giles were still fighting. Cutting off the legs of the spiders immobilized them enough for her to cut her way through the body. She worried because she knew they were barely holding the spiders back.

Then finally the others arrived. "Buffy, they are just spiders. Someone just made them big and set them loose." Tara said after looking at the one Sam shot.

"Well that's better than summoning demonic ones, I guess." Buffy said as Tara used her short sword to help Buffy hack off spider legs. Slowly all of the patrol groups converged on the front door killing all of the spiders they ran into on the way.

The First smiled as it watched Faith and Wesley leave the high school through Caleb's eyes. It really enjoyed being able to do things with a body. It had been so long since it was corporeal. Soon it would be fully unbound and then it would reign in the hell that would follow. Caleb walked up to the open door to the high school and led the way down to the basement. The Harbringers followed, four of them carrying two poles threaded through the bars of a cage. In that cage was a man. He was dirty, his clothes were torn, and he was tied and gagged. He looked rather starved. As they passed a window a moonbeam shown down and lit up the man's face. It was Quentin Travers, the missing Watcher.

Working their way across the first floor and being careful not to shoot before they knew what it was they were shooting, they made their way to the second floor. It seemed to be the center of the disturbance. When they reached the second floor it was obvious where they needed to go. Buffy motioned the Demon Hunters to the front. Their weapons were the most effective. John and Dean took the right hand side of the hallway, while Sam and Xander took the left. In two single files they made their way to the science lab. It was now home to an enormous female spider. She was also the last living one they saw. She sat at the center of the lab on an elaborate web that ran through out the room. Taking careful aim, all four men poured the last of their ammunition into the spider's body. It didn't stand a chance. Buffy set Kit to watching the body while everyone else started clearing out the spider web. They had to find who ever had set these spiders loose.

It was Jack who finally found the spider's larder. It was filled with a dozen human sized cocoons. Each one was cut down and opened but there were no survivors. The last cocoon held a young man with a book in his hands. Faith passed it over to Elizabeth. She took it and looked it over with the other magic users. "Stupid child, why on earth would he have tried to use this spell? It wouldn't work." She murmured to herself. "This is the one who cast the spell. We need to find out where he did it and cleans the area or it will keep turning whatever it come into contact with into giants."

"Elizabeth is this it?" Dean asked, not wanting to get to close to the design on the floor.

"Yes, that's it." She said and motioned to Tara. A few whispered instructions and Tara started pulling ingredients out of her pouches. As she threw powders over the chalk design she said a cleansing prayer. Then she took the broom that Willow handed to her and swept up the whole mess.

"All done." She said softly.

"That's wonderful, Tara. Good job everybody." Buffy said. "Who wants chocolate?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 12

A/N: This includes a description of a ritual sacrifice. Blood and gore people! You have been warned.

November 1

Wesley and Faith entered the library to put away the weapons that they had taken out for last night's patrol. School didn't start for another three hours but Wesley wanted Faith to get some target practice in without any interruptions. That was very hard to do in the mornings at the mansion with everyone running around getting ready for the day.

With the staff of the school knowing that Faith was part of school security Wesley didn't have to hide what he was doing so he set her up in the gym with different targets and different weapons. No guns because Dean was teaching her those and he had said that she wasn't ready for them yet. But Wesley did have crossbows, long and short bows and throwing knives and stars for her to work with. "I want you to work on your accuracy from different angles Faith. Shoot a hundred times in each position;" Wesley demonstrated each position he wanted her to practice; flat on the ground on his stomach, rolled over onto his back, literally upside down hanging from the gymnasts practice bars, and others. Faith nodded and went to work.

There was something not right about that boy, Spike thought, looking down at Jack as he slept on the couch. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he just didn't act right. He should be all excited and puppy helpful like and he wasn't. Actually Spike wasn't too sure what Jack was acting like but the way he'd acted at the Slayer's little lecture last night was all wrong. And the look he had given her afterwards had just set the nails in his coffin. He had been trying to figure out that look all night. "Are you just going to stare at me Spike?" Jack asked without moving or opening his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Spike asked. "I wasn't moving or breathing or anything."

"You're staring. I can feel it." Jack said into his pillow. "What do you want Spike?"

"It's time for you to get up so Xander can drop you off at school before he goes to work. You'll be early but you can run a patrol with Faith before classes or something." Spike stared at Jack as he heaved himself up to get ready, then he shrugged to himself and walked towards his bedroom. He'd figure it out later. Right now he was so exhausted he could barely see the walls in front of him.

He wished he could just vamp out so he could see better, too bad it would freak the whelp and the little soldier out. He stopped dead in his tracks. That's what it was; he was acting like the Initiative brats! Spike whirled around and picked Jack up by the t-shirt he was wearing. "Who are you and why do you act like a soldier?" Spike vamped out as he growled. Soldiers were threats to his nest. Not one of them was worth the effort of trying to eat. They needed to be ripped apart slowly; he cursed the fact that he couldn't do that.

Xander walked in as Spike placed Jack against the wall. "Spike, put the kid down. What did he do?" Xander asked as he pushed Spike's arm down. He was tired and didn't need this crap this early in the morning. He'd been out late stomping on giant spiders. These two knew that, they'd been there with him! Stupid vampire, this was the last thing he needed right now. Coffee, he needed coffee, his thoughts rambled.

"He's a soldier! I bin trying to figure out why the wanker wasn't acting right! I just figured it out. He's a bloody soldier! Just like those Initiative brats!" Spike growled.

"Spike, his dad was a career soldier." Xander said.

"Not gonna fly Harris!"

"I can't tell you!!" Jack said. This whole thing was crazy. He wasn't hurting even though Spike had him against the wall, but seeing Spike all vamped out was; not scary, but definitely disconcerting. He KNEW Spike couldn't hurt him, he'd heard all about the chip. It also made his freaking out over Jack acting like a soldier understandable, but he couldn't help it! He'd been a soldier for decades! This was all Loki's fault! Why did this always happen to him?! He couldn't believe he'd been made by a vampire! "It's classified and did you just say Initiative?" That was bad, very bad. Jack remembered that the Initiative was the code name for one of the NID's little black book operations.

"That's right." Xander said while Spike growled.

"Spike," Jack said quietly. "What I can say is that if the NID get their hands on me, I'll wish I was you by the time they're done."

Spike looked closely at Jack's eyes. It was all there. An old tired soul looked out of his teenaged face. Spike knew without a doubt that Jack was telling him the truth; he could smell it in his scent and see it in his eyes. "They did something to you." He said flatly and his face slid back to its human guise. "Are you going to hurt any of the Watcher's kids?"

"No." Jack said just as flatly.

"Go get ready for school." Spike said and set him down. Jack grabbed his duffle and walked to the bathroom. Now was not the time to be asserting his independence. He'd really scared Spike.

"Spike?" Xander asked.

"They tortured him, Xan. I could see it in his eyes."

"He's older than sixteen then if he really was a soldier. He probably got this emancipated minor, new identity thing as compensation would be my guess, especially if it really is classified and he can't talk about it." Xander shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter now. He's a Scooby and we take care of ours, we don't throw them away." He patted Spike on the back and shoved him towards his bedroom. "Go get some sleep. With Dean, Sam, Dawn, Buffy and John out of town for the next few days we're going to have to cover more ground than usual on patrol."

Xander and Jack sat in Xander's car in the parking lot of Sunnydale High. "Look, no one is going to turn you in to the NID. We're not going to kick you out just because you have some stuff in your past you can't talk about either. You might have noticed that Faith barely talks about what happened when she went nuts and tried to kill all of us and she never talks about what happened to her before she was called. If you want to talk about what you can talk about, any of us will listen."

Jack looked at him. What could he say without talking about anything that was classified? He bit his lip slightly and took a deep breath. They had not only brought him back into a fight he could believe in, they'd saved his life too. They didn't deserve having someone at their back that was hiding secrets. Let's see if I can worm my way around this.

"Spike was right. I was a soldier. I can't talk a lot about it, but I've had some, unusual experiences, and before you ask no; none of them had anything to do with what we deal with here. Except, well, I guess you could say I ran into someone who was once considered a god and I used to be a lot older." He looked at Xander closely, "I really can't say anything else and I probably shouldn't have said that much.

"Dawn and Elizabeth, or any of the others either, can't do anything about the age thing. You can tell them but they also shouldn't try. I am watched by the military, but it is more of a keep an eye out so the NID don't get me sort of thing. My old unit has had some bad run ins with them and they are trying to protect me. I have no idea why one of them figured Sunnyhell was a good place for me to wait until I grew up again, but at least here I've got something to do that is useful. I don't want any of them to get on someone's radar." Jack hoped that Xander understood the warning he was trying to give him.

For Xander the warning came through loud and clear. It sounded like the people in his unit had probably broken some rules to keep him out of the NID's hands and Jack was just as worried about them as he was about the Scoobies. The NID, the bozos behind the Initiative, would love to get their hands on any of his girls and after what they had done to Spike and almost did to Oz, well there was no way in hell he was going to spill the beans. He just nodded and Jack got out of the car and ran up to the faculty door. Someone who used to be considered a god? Well, they'd run into that before. Xander shrugged at the strangeness that was his life and turned his mind to the new job his company was starting today.

Jack walked into the school and saw Faith and Wesley taking practice targets to the library and ran to help them. It didn't matter if he had just skirted breaking national security, this was his team and they were in the business of saving the world. They deserved to know as much as he could tell them. Jack helped secure most of the weaponry and then joined Faith for a quick patrol around the school. They settled into the easy talk of a couple of kids out for a stroll that he had discovered was one of their main camouflages. No one looked twice at a couple of kids who were obviously just out to have a little fun and weren't doing anything obviously wrong. He wouldn't have taken a second look either back before Loki.

It wasn't until they headed for the basement that they found anything wrong. There was a trail of blood on the steps down to the basement. Jack stopped Faith and motioned to her pocket, then to his ear. She nodded and slipped out the cell phone. She sent a text message to Wesley about the blood and then followed it on down the steps with her favorite hatchet in one hand and a stake in the other. Jack had a pistol and desperately wished he had a zat as he usually did. Following the blood trail through the darkened basement led them to a scene of slaughter.

There was a complex set of pulleys and ropes hanging from the ceiling. Inside the ropes was what looked like the remains of a man. Jack was fairly sure it was a man based on what he could see of the clothes, they looked like the ruins of a suit and ruins they were. Only the back of a suit jacket remained on the man's back, the rest had been cut away leaving the chest exposed. The pants and underwear had been cut away as well and only the belted waist was still in evidence. Both shoes and socks were still on his feet. There was blood everywhere and Jack wasn't sure he wanted to see more. "Faith, call Wes and keep Kit and Carlos out of here. Dawn's with her family out of town so we don't need to worry about her, but the others aren't ready to see this."

"Yeah, I'm not to sure I'm ready." Faith whispered in a shaky voice.

"I'll check him." Jack said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Just remember, you didn't do this. We're going to stop whatever did." Jack walked over to the corpse and took out his small penlight. He had found that these small flashlights were very helpful when patrolling the basement. You never knew when you were going to end up down here and this way no one asked questions about why you had a flashlight with you. Jack didn't flinch when the light shown on the face. The eyes had been gouged out. He'd seen that before, as well as the cut throat. The marks on the cheeks were new to him though. He slid the light lower. The chest was carved with markings and, he squinted, tattoos? "Faith is there any reason your name and Dean's would be tattooed on someone?"

"Oh shit! It's Travers. We did that when he tried to kidnap me so he could kill me last summer. We put an American flag on his chest and signed our names. Tara had worked out a magical tattoo so no matter how he looked at it he could always read it. It was the only punishment we could come up with because if we hurt him he could go back to the Watcher's Council and say hey look at what they did to me just because I was doing my job, you know? It wouldn't matter to them that he planned on making sure I wouldn't survive what they were going to do to me. They would have kept sending wetworks teams out after us if we'd actually hurt him.

"By humiliating all of them we got our point across and the Council eliminated the Cruciamentum. It's this ritual that Slayers had to go through if they reached the age of eighteen. Giles called it nothing more than barbaric cruelty. They strip the Slayer of her powers and turn her loose with a vampire and tell her kill it or be killed by it. They did it to Buffy. She survived, but I'm not as good as she is. I never have been. Wes got me here and the Scoobies made sure that it didn't happen to me." Faith shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. If she hadn't done her best to heal the breaches with Buffy and the others it would have happened to her. It was funny what a sincere apology could do, hers had saved her life.

Jack nodded and continued to shine the light down Travers' body. The belly was also carved up and the genitals were missing. Those made Jack close his eyes for a moment in sympathy, not too much though if he had tried to kill Faith just because she had turned eighteen. The legs down to the knees were carved up as well. It was no wonder there was so much blood on the ground. He shined the light on the ground and noticed a large round shield of some kind. It kind of looked like one of Danny's rocks.

"Faith, tell Wes we're going to need Giles and Grace down here too. There is blood all over some sort of, artifact." Jack said the last word reluctantly. Daniel would never let him live it down if he found out that Jack actually used that word. Of course if the original Jack ever found out that he not only used it, he used it correctly he'd never see the light of day again because it would get back to Daniel. Faith nodded and made the calls.

Jack had stayed when Wesley had sent Faith back to her classes. He couldn't abandon the site until it was dealt with. He knew he could leave it in the Watchers' hands, but he had to know what was coming at his team.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 13

November 2

Bruce Moore stood in front of his daughter Jessica's grave with his wife Connie and daughter Kristine. It was just such a senseless death. The only good thing had been that Sam Winchester, his daughter's boyfriend hadn't been home that night; every day he thanked God that Sam's brother had come and taken him away for the weekend. He was even grateful that their drunk of a father had gone missing, anything to ensure that someone had survived the fire that had taken Jessica's life.

Bruce looked up at the sound of a car engine. The car was a black Impala like the one that he had seen at Jessica's funeral. That one belonged to Sam's brother Dean. He hoped Sam's brother had brought him here today. It was appropriate that he be here on the first anniversary of Jessica's death. When Sam got out of the car he wasn't surprised, what did surprise him was the older man who got out of the back and put his hand on Sam's shoulder. That couldn't be John Winchester.

How could Sam let that man touch him? The scars that man had put on that poor boy! And for him to be here today of all days! Dean Winchester got out of the driver's side and walked around to stand on the other side of his brother. The three of them walked towards Jessica's grave together with Sam in the middle. A young woman and a teenaged girl got out of the back of the car and followed the Winchesters. Bruce had no idea who they were.

It wasn't until they were closer that Bruce saw that all three of the men were carrying something. Dean was carrying a single flower, what kind Bruce didn't know. Sam was carrying a teddy bear, a small one; Bruce could barely see it in Sam's hand. John, (if it was John, Bruce really hoped it wasn't), was carrying a box of rock salt of all things. Why on earth was he carrying that?!

Silently the young woman and the girl tugged Bruce and his family back from the grave. John went to stand by the right side and Dean went to stand at the left. Sam stood at the foot of the grave. John reached out and placed some type of crystal at the base of the headstone and then all three men started chanting softly as John poured salt around the grave. As the salt line reached the end of the area John could reach without moving Dean took the container and continued the line.

The same thing happened when he passed the salt to Sam and then Sam passed the salt back to John. It was obviously some kind of ritual and Bruce knew just enough Latin to understand that it was a prayer to God to bless and protect the dead. He hadn't known that Sam was into strange religious practices but this wasn't too bad. And Bruce wasn't the sort of person who persecuted others for their religious beliefs.

When the prayer was done Dean knelt down and put the flower on the grave. "I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better, Jess. You would have made a good addition to the family. I could see that just from the one time I met you. I'm also sorry I never got to see you baby. I really wanted to be an uncle."

Kristine froze. How had Dean known about the baby? Jessica had just found out after they had left and they didn't get back until after she was dead. She and Cordy were the only ones who had known and they had only found out because they had taken Jessica shopping. When Jessica had seen the teddy bear, she'd had to have it for the baby but had made them promise not to tell Sam until she could. After the fire they had agreed to keep it to themselves because it would have hurt Sam too much to find out that he had not only lost the woman he was going to ask to marry him, but his child as well. The only reason she knew about what Sam's plans had been was because he had asked for her and Cordy's help in picking out the ring.

When Dean leaned back and stood up Sam bent forward and put a tiny teddy bear next to the flower and the crystal. He was very much aware of Jessica's family being there, but he still had to say the words. Oh well, it would be simple enough to come up with a cover story and tell her the truth at the same time.

"I miss you Jess. I'm so sorry that bastard hurt you and the baby. I didn't know that he would go after you too. I thought he was done hurting my family. But we got him sweetheart. He'll never kill anyone else again. His daughter told me about the baby. She taunted me with it, trying to make me fall apart so I wouldn't be able to go after her father. It didn't work." Sam laughed a little.

"After all this time, they never understood my family, Jess. If someone hurts one of ours we hunt the bastard down and a little thing like finding out that more than one person died isn't going to stop us. All that did was piss us off more. They're all dead Jess. They didn't give us a choice, but I'm sure I would have killed them anyway. Don't worry about us getting into trouble over it; we've been cleared by the cops. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to tell me about the baby. I'd have given anything to have been able to hear that from you." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I wish I could have had more time with you both. Even though you didn't get a chance to really live, Baby, I still love you just like I love your mom." Sam choked up and Dean went over and held his brother.

"Watch over them both Mary. They're a part of the family." Was all John said before he too enclosed Sam in a hug.

As John and Dean turned Sam away from the grave the young woman and girl stepped up and each laid a flower on the grave. "Don't worry about Sam. We'll take good care of him." The girl said.

"Be at piece now. Your murderer is facing justice." The young woman said and they both turned back to the men they came with. They joined in the group hug. They stood silently for a few minutes before breaking up.

"Mr. Moore, thank you for not interrupting." Sam said as he shook Bruce's hand.

"I'm not a bigot, Sam. I may not have understood very much of what you were doing but it was very obvious that it had some kind of religious significance. Can you please tell me what you meant when you said she'd been murdered?"

John was the one who answered. "Mr. Moore, I'm John Winchester. My wife Mary and Jessica were both killed by the same serial killer. He was very good at getting away with it but I saw him the night he killed Mary. Unfortunately no one believed me. Sam knew the story well enough that when he found out the specifics of how Jessica died; he knew it was the same person responsible. He also knew that no one would believe him either. We finally tracked him down this summer. He and his children died in the attempt to bring them to justice. It has taken us this long to get cleared of any and all charges resulting from their deaths."

"That bitch Meg was the one who told us Jessica was pregnant." Dean said tightly. "Look, it's gonna rain soon. What do you say we get out of here and get some lunch or something?" They all agreed and after arraigning to meet at a local restaurant went to their cars.

After they had sat down a table and everyone was introduced Kristine was the one to start the long overdue talk. "Jessica was pregnant. She found out the morning after you left, Sam. Cordy and I took her shopping and she found a teddy bear for the baby. We were teasing her and she told us. That's why I told her you had been out looking for rings. I didn't want her to think you were going to propose just because of the baby. She wanted to tell you herself so after, Cordy and I didn't want you to feel worse. That's why we didn't say anything."

"I'm glad you didn't, I don't think I could have handled it right then." Sam said quietly. "It's hard enough now." Dean reached over and put his hand on Sam's neck. When he did so, his sleeve inched up and Bruce got a good look at a scar running across his arm just beneath his wrist.

"Where did you get that scar from Dean?" he asked harshly.

Dean smirked. He knew what Bruce thought. Hell, it was what a lot of people thought when they saw the scars he and Sam had. John and Sam had told him what they had decided to say if anyone had asked about Sam's scars. "Hunting accident, a brown bear got a hold of me. Dad shot it before I got mauled up too bad though. I still say it was too bad we couldn't skin it. A bear skin would have been nice for the floor of the tent."

"The tent?" Connie asked.

"No one would even look for the man who killed Mary, so I had to do it myself. I just couldn't let her killer get away with it." John said. "Along the way I lost my half of my business and I took to taking odd jobs to keep me and the boys fed. Living on the road like we were, sometimes it wasn't enough. There were lots of times we would end up camping and hunting for food. That turned into a second job skill for me. I just wish all of their scars had come from that."

"It's not your fault, Dad." "Shit happens, Dad, deal with it." Dean and Sam said at the same time. John just grimaced. Internally he was glad to see how well his boys were working together on this con, not that it was much of one; most of what they were saying was the truth. Buffy and Dawn knew they weren't any good at the cover story thing so they were staying quiet and hopefully unnoticed in the background.

"What happened?" Bruce asked.

"A pedophile grabbed Sam when he was five. Dad was paying for the gas and I had just gotten back to the car from the bathroom and Sam was on his way back to the car. Not your fault, Dad." He repeated. "We got him back alive and that's all due to your tracking skills. It's more than the rest of his victims families can say. All the rest of his victims ended up dead and they came from normal families so our lifestyle wasn't the problem either. He was hunting for his next victim and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to run into the creep."

"Oh my gosh, are you all right, Sam?" Connie asked. Bruce just sat there stunned. It was no wonder Sam had refused to talk about the scars, and it was no wonder why John was a drunk. To have all of that happen to his family in such a short amount of time.

"It was a long time ago, Connie. I really don't remember that much except a lot of pain and my dad finding me." Sam said simply. "The worst part has always been people believing Dad was the one who hurt me no matter what I said, so finally I just stopped talking about it."

"God damned CPS was always looking at Dad like he was the worst scum of the universe whenever some well meaning idiot call them in." Dean growled. "We'd get just one bruise or into a single fight in the school yard and they'd be off running to call in the authorities. Never mind we were clean, well fed and healthy, we were obviously being abused." Sam snorted in agreement.

"Dad couldn't even take me on a trip to New York without someone calling the cops." Dawn agreed.

"Yeah, but in that case it was the motel manager trying to throw the cops off his tracks." John pointed out. Just then a waitress delivered their meals. The waitress was Cordy.

"Hey Sam, it's good to see you. Buffy, hi! Do I want to ask how you all ended up here together?" Cordelia was a little worried. That Buffy was out of Sunnydale was never a good thing and for her to be with all three of the Winchesters wasn't a good sign either.

"Don't worry, Faith has things covered at home, Cordelia. Actually, I've got a lot more help these days than I ever have before, so I got a few days off to go with Sam, Dean and John to visit Jessica and Mary. Give me your numbers and we can do some catching up." Buffy said, pulling out a small notebook and writing her contact information on a paper. She ripped it out and handed it to Cordelia, who took it and then wrote down her numbers on the pad for Buffy.

"I hope you all enjoy your lunch. Sam, give me a call later, ok? I have to get back to work now." Cordelia hurried back to where another employee of the restaurant was waving at her.

"Wow, she sure has changed!" Dawn said amazed.

"Providing for yourself can do that for a person, Dawn. Cordy is very lucky she made it here at all and she knows it." Sam said wisely. It hadn't been that long ago that he was in similar circumstances. Talk then turned to college and what the three students were up to and where Dawn was planning on going. It turned out to be a rather nice ending to a stressful morning.

Sam Zabuto hurried the two young girls with him into his car. He had to get them out of the country as fast as possible. Not only were they in danger from the Harbringers, they were also in trouble with the local law. Damn these bureaucrats and their paperwork! He didn't have time to deal with the niceties! He had at least one other potential to pick up before he could get these girls to Sunnydale and the Harbringers were getting close.

It wasn't like he could explain why he was kidnapping the girls to save their lives. Not to mention that a black man in the company of two young white girls was enough to cause a riot here in this country anyway. If he didn't know the price that would be paid if he didn't do this, he'd be moaning about why him right about now, he thought with a small regret for the innocence he had lost as a child.

He had dedicated his life to the Slayer line as a child as his family had wanted and if that wasn't reason enough there was Kendra, his Slayer and the price she had paid to save the world, and he wasn't about to let her memory down now. He had raised Kendra from infancy and he had always thought of her as a daughter. It was her legacy he was preserving now and nothing and no one was going to stop him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 14

Once more the Winchester family stood around a grave, this time it was Mary's and they were alone. There were no other grieving family members this grey wind swept day, just the five of them. And only two of the people there had known Mary. Sam had been far too young to have even the slightest memory of her when she died. Buffy and Dawn felt bad not for the lady in the grave; for them death, even at the hands of a demon, was a sad thing but something that happened rather frequently. No, the ones that they felt badly for were the men standing around it. It would always be the survivors who had it the hardest. That they knew from experience.

John had lost the love of his life, Buffy knew. She knew that he loved her as well, but there was nothing and no one that could take Mary's place in his heart. That was the way it should be. No one could take Angel's place in hers and he was as lost to her as Mary was to John, even if she hadn't lost him to death.

Dean had lost the only mother he had ever known or would ever want. There was nothing more to say than that. For four years she had been his whole world and then a demon had torn it apart. That he had been able to go on at all was a testament to how John had raised him. Most little boys would have needed years of therapy and or support from family. All Dean had had was John and his baby brother. Without a doubt that was why they meant so much to him now. For Dean, family was everything.

For Sam, this trip was very different than the times he had made it in the past. For the first time he had a memory of his mother. He only wished it wasn't one of her spirit destroying itself to save his life. It seemed to be a running pattern in his relationship with his mother. She sacrificed herself twice for him, once as a baby and once as an adult, neither time did he get to spend very much time with her before she was gone.

This time, Buffy and Dawn hung back to watch as the men said their pieces to the dead woman. Although Buffy could hear every word they said, thanks to her slayer hearing, she didn't want to intrude upon their grief and pretended she couldn't hear a thing. And really, it wasn't much more than what was said a few days before at Jessica's grave. From Sam and Dean, it was mostly 'We got him Mom, none of them will hurt anyone again.' It was when Dean and Sam both went to stand beside Buffy and Dawn and John was alone that anything different was said. "Go on back to the car, ok guys? Your dad will be along in a minute and I want a chance to say some stuff too." Buffy said quietly.

"Sure, Buffy." Dean said quietly and shooed his little brother and sister back to the car.

"Well, like the boys told you Mary, we got them. The whole clan of demons is dead. Dean was the one who did it. The worst part was if they had just left us alone, if they had just left you alive, we wouldn't have gone after them. The only reason they came after us was because of this stupid prophecy. It said that Dean would kill them but they thought it meant that Sammy would. Idiots, Dean's power may be more passive, but it's just as strong as Sammy's."

John sighed. "A lot has happened this year Mary. Most of it in the last six months or so. I have a daughter. Her name is Dawn. I didn't get her in the regular way, Mary. You know I would have told you if I'd found someone. I have met someone, but it's Dawn's mother and I didn't meet her until after I found out about Dawn. You see, Dawn was conceived by magic and then aged up to fourteen. She's almost a year old now. In fact her first birthday is in less than two weeks and I've got to start worrying about boyfriends already. She's a great girl, just as smart as Sammy but the questions she asks! She has to know every little detail! At least I can tell her I don't know something and she'll accept it. Sam and I always did go round and round.

"He's a seer, Mary. Lately we've been having the same dreams. Little girls being killed and there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. We did save one though, sort of. We managed to warn her. She's a potential slayer. Slayers," John laughed. "Well, it seems our family is going to be neck deep in them now Mary. Dawn's mother is Buffy. She's the senior Slayer. God, that was a trip finding that out! I love her Mary. It's like I died without you. I only stayed alive for the boys and to get that damned demon. I don't think I would have survived or even wanted to if I hadn't met her. The boys are all grown up and it was dead. But she woke me up and I started to live again.

"I just stopped to help out with an apocalypse and the next thing I knew I was neck deep in Watchers and Witches and Slayers and everything that was connected to her life. I still don't know how I ended up as her boyfriend. I mean she's just this little whirlwind and she grabbed me up and tossed me where she wanted me and realistically I couldn't be happier. I know you wouldn't want me to be alone forever Mary, but she's someone who really understands not just what my life has become, but your place in it too.

"Oh and she was so good with the boys about a month ago. They got hit with this spell and they were little kids for about a week. She's a really good mother. She's also one hell of a fighter. I know I'll loose her too, but it'll be ok Mary. I'll be ok. Because this time I'm going to be right there with her when she goes. I figure whatever takes her out will be wounded enough that I can take it with me. Hell, she's so good that I might even go first this time. But it doesn't matter. Life will work itself out like it always does.

"Dean's got himself a Slayer as a girlfriend. Her name is Faith and she's a real match for him. If we can keep her alive long enough she'll make him a good partner one day, although she says she doesn't want to get married. We'll just see how that goes. He gets along with her Watcher well so things are going good for him.

"Sammy is going to school to be a doctor, Mary. A doctor. Your father was really pleased to see that. We sort of mended fences with him and the boys got to meet your brother. He's a nice guy. It was all Dean could do to keep his smart mouth down to a minimum though. Dawn didn't hold back any. I've got to go now, Mary. The kids are waiting on me." John got up and walked back to the Impala, stopping at where Buffy was waiting.

"I'm going to say a few things to her and meet you back at the car, ok?" Buffy asked after giving John a hug.

"No problem. It'll give me a chance to get myself together before we go over to see Missouri."

Buffy nodded and made her way to Mary Winchester's grave. "Hi Mary, I'm Buffy. I just wanted you to know that I love John and I'm going to take good care of him. Well, as much as I can any way. I'll watch his back. Most of the time he's the one taking care of me. I don't think he knows how much I appreciate that. It isn't that I've never told him, it's more that we tend to speak different languages because of the age gap I think.

"Yeah, I'm a lot younger than he is, but being a Slayer I won't make it too much longer. I've already passed my twentieth birthday and that's ancient for a Slayer. Very few of us ever make it to our eighteenth, never mind our twentieth. But I've got a lot of good people backing me and John's in good hands with them. They'll take care of him when I can't.

"Dean is dating Faith and it is serious. He's so much like his dad the way they went about courting us. Don't worry about Faith though; they're good for each other. I think the only way it will go bad is when she dies. It sucks having such a short shelf life compared to everyone around you. You at least had the chance to have a family even if they did loose you. John's done really well raising your boys. They're good men. My family will look after them for both of us when I'm gone. They won't be alone again." Buffy stood up and left the cemetery. It felt good to be able to make that promise to Mary. She knew that it would be kept regardless of whether or not she made it past her next birthday

Missouri Mosley hummed to herself as she set her kitchen table. Her guests would be here soon. It wasn't often that she had a house full of guests and it would be wonderful seeing John with his boys once more. Even meeting his new daughter and his Slayer was going to be an experience. She laughed at herself. She hadn't been this upbeat in years.

She blamed it all on John; usually the man brought a black cloud with him where ever he went. This time he was a blazing sun with only wisps of clouds covering the light. It was so good to feel her old friend in love. She went and checked on the pot roast she had in the oven. She hoped she had enough food. Slayers were notoriously big eaters and Sam wasn't that far out of the 'eat everything in sight' stage either. Dawn, now she could go either way. Some girls ate like birds while others fed their growing bodies properly. John and Dean of course were both big men, which meant big appetites.

She smiled and went to the door. They were here. She opened the door before anyone could knock and smiled again at the surprised look on Dawn's face. "Come in, come in honey child. You too boys. John it's so good to see you. Hello Buffy, now all of you get in here and set yourselves right on down. None of that Dean Winchester!" Missouri smacked Dean on the head and led the way to the dinning room.

Buffy stared at Dean while Sam and John laughed. "Missouri reads minds." Dean said sourly.

"Yeah, and she doesn't put up with your crap either." Sam laughed.

"If it didn't come out of my mouth it doesn't count." Dean groused.

Buffy painfully smiled. "Dean, if she reads minds she probably can't help it. I had a problem once with that and it just about overwhelmed me. In fact that was how I found out about what really happened during the band candy thing. I was shocked and horrified."

Missouri laughed and settled the Winchesters' around her table. "It isn't that bad for me, but you know how some people are. They just can't help but think the most outrageous things. Besides Dean, the last time you were here you needed someone to get mad at. You needed the distraction."

The research had been going on for days. Every book that any of the three Watchers had was searched for even the tiniest reference to the mysterious seal that had been found by Faith and Jack. Jack had even gone as far as e-mailing Daniel a copy of a picture of the seal. So far no one had much luck in finding anything. There was one good thing though, Jack thought as he opened the e-mail from Daniel. SG1 was back from off world and if anyone could translate the thing, it was Danny.

Jack, where on earth did you find this? I've only found a few references to a similar seal off world. From what I've managed to decipher from those it is made to seal a 'well of power' that is basically untamable. Scary stuff, Jack. Think about when you got

the Ancient's archive downloaded into your brain. We're talking about something that they considered to be untamable. There is a

way to unseal it, of course, but the Ancient's weren't fools. It takes about seven months and requires a lot of blood from the local

population in a ritual to unseal it. The best translation for the writing that I can come up with is, "From beneath you it devours"

Jack, be careful with this. If you need any help, send us a message. This wasn't what we had planned when we sent you there. It

was supposed to be a sleepy little small town, not one that was hiding an Ancient artifact.

Daniel

Jack paced up and down the living room of Xander's apartment. Danny had said a lot of blood from the local population. When he said local population in regards to one of these things he wasn't talking about the town's population, he was talking about the population of the planet the artifact was found on. That meant that someone had started opening the hellmouth on Halloween. Hell, the spiders had probably been a distraction! As much as he didn't want to, he was going to have to start talking about what he knew in more than very vague terms. But first he had to have permission from the General. He sat down and sent General Hammond an e-mail.

General, as Dr. Jackson may have informed you, I have a situation here that requires some delicate handling. I need to know if this

group of people has any clearance, or has any hope of clearance to know about the Ancients.

Rupert Giles, British citizen Wesley Pryce, British citizen

Elizabeth Giles, British citizenGrace Henry, British citizen

Buffy Ann Summers, American Alexander Lavell Harris, American

Willow Rosenburg, AmericanJohn Winchester, American

Samuel Winchester, AmericanJoyce Summers, American

These people are involved as are a few others. Sir, in my opinion they can be trusted with the information. They have a similar covert

job and are very good at what they do. They have allowed me to join them and so I have learned a great deal about their operations

here. They are good people, George. If hell is about to come down on their heads, they need to know about it.

Jonathan Jackson


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 15

General George Hammond reread the e-mail that had come into the private account that had been set up for Jonathan Jackson. It was a strictly monitored account. It went just two ways. From a single computer at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex to the laptop that was in the clone of Col. Jack O'Neill's possession. It was as encrypted as Major Carter could possibly make it.

Most of the time it was just used to send a few chatty letters between the members of SG1 and Jonathan. It had also helped to bridge the difficult situation between Col. Jack and Jonathan. The letters had started off sounding very depressed, but had gotten very cheerful lately. Now he knew why. Jack was never happy unless he was in the middle of the action and Jonathan was no different. Whatever covert operation he was involved with was something he could believe in that was obvious. It was also obvious that Jonathan had bonded with these people whoever they were. "Well, Doctor?" He asked Janet Fraser.

"Jonathan believes in these people, General. You know how he judges the people he works with. Jonathan is still in essence Jack O'Neill. Jonathan's e-mail says that these people work in a similar line of covert work and he's been much happier since he joined up with them. Sir, with Jonathan's situation, he wouldn't go into another covert group without a lot of suspicion. In fact, I'd probably say he would be even more paranoid than usual." Janet said, knowing that she was in essence, backing up the clone's recommendation.

Hammond nodded and looked over the files that he had on his desk. The background checks were amazingly scattered. None of these people had been officially involved in any military operation, American or British, but some of them had high enough security clearances that he could, if he wished, give SG1 the go ahead to tell them about the SGC and almost anything else they wanted to know.

In fact, the young woman named Buffy (Who in God's name would give their poor child a name like that?) had several commendations in her security file for saving the lives of American service men. One of the commendations read like she was the only reason there were any survivors at all from some kind of operation, although Hammond hadn't a clue as to why that might be.

What he was sure of however, was the name of the man who had signed those commendations. General Hightower was a man he respected. Hammond also knew that he had been sent in to clean up an NID operation gone bad a while back. The recommendations had come in during that time. There was no choice in his book. Some of these people had been vouched for by two men whose word he trusted, and the rest had been vouched for by one of those two men. "Sergeant, send these files to SG1. You should be able to get the files to Major Carter before they land in California. Also include a message for Jonathan Jackson. Miss Summers has clearance and who she tells in her operations is up to her."

Col. Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill steered his second in command through the airport terminal with the ease of long practice. Ten years ago he never would have dreamed that this was a skill he would have needed to learn but he hadn't been a fan of scientists then. For the most part he wasn't one now, but several scientists had changed his mind about them personally.

Two of them were on his team, and if he had needed to learn a new skill to help them, well that was part of being a team. Steering someone who had their head buried in a laptop or something else they were reading when they needed to go somewhere else was easy when the other two members of his team ran interference. The real challenge had been learning how to steer both Carter and Danny at the same time when Teal'c couldn't help. He hated having to do it without Teal'c because he tended to loose one sooner or later.

This time it was Carter and the documents she had on her laptop were security files for some of the people that his clone was working with. The really scary thing had been the note that had been attached to the files telling mini-me that he could spill the beans to a twenty year old college student named Buffy. Who in the world named their kid Buffy? And why did she have one of the United States highest security clearances when she had never left her hometown or been in any service? Well, mini-me had better have a good story to tell when we catch up with him, Jack thought.

All the members of SG1 had gone over all of the files that had been sent to Carter's laptop by the time that they arrived in Sunnydale. It was a small town so it wasn't hard to find Jonathan's new apartment. He had moved in with one of the men on the list that he had sent to the General, an Alexander Harris. There was another roommate, someone Jonathan had called Spike. They didn't really have any information on him other than he was more than a bit strange at times. Jack was a bit worried about showing up at the apartment even though his clone would be expecting someone to appear soon. Jack took the lead and knocked on the apartment door. A bleached blond man wearing only a pair of worn out jeans snarled in their faces the minute he opened the door. "What the hell do you lot want? Can't you see it's eight o'clock in the bleedin' morning?"

This had to be the roommate, although Jonathan hadn't told them that he was British as well, Sam decided. "We're looking for Jonathan Jackson."

Spike looked at the woman. Bleedin' humans! Can't let a vampire get a decent day's sleep! "Little soldier boy's over at the poof's mansion training the rest of S2. Slayer and her kin just got back last night. Go to the North most cemetery and keep going up the hill, you can't miss it." And he slammed the door in their faces and went back to bed. Stupid humans! They oughta be glad he couldn't eat them.

"I guess that was Spike." Daniel offered as he turned to leave the building.

"Well, Jonathan did say he was different." Sam said faintly worried.

"Jonathan Jackson once remarked that his roommate Spike was nocturnal. I believe we disturbed his rest." Teal'c said. No one bothered to tell Teal'c that in the case of humans 'nocturnal' was more of saying than an actual condition.

"Does anybody know who or what the poof, S2 or Slayer is?" Jack asked. He didn't remember those from any of the letters from mini-me.

"Poof is slang for gay Jack. My guess is that's a description for someone. I have no idea about the others." Daniel said, frowning over the unfamiliar terms. They all piled into the rented SUV and Sam got out the map. With Sam navigating, they soon found the only mansion that matched the directions that Spike had given them.

"We're here. Shall we go brave the spooky old house campers?" Jack said in a fake upbeat voice. Rolling their eyes Carter and Daniel got out of the vehicle, followed by Jack and Teal'c.

"Hopefully we'll get a better reception this time." Daniel said and knocked on the door.

It was flung open by a teenaged girl who squealed at the sight of SG1. "Oh, you're Jack's family! Come in! Come in! He's in the ballroom working on our hand to hand combat right now! He said you might drop by! Jack!!!!" She yelled as she dragged Daniel in by the arm. The rest of the team followed him in bemusedly. It was obvious that Jonathan had a picture of SG1 that he had shown to the girl and the rest of his friends. Jack was wondering what story his clone had come up with.

Dragging Daniel through the doors to the ballroom Kit was jerked to a halt when Daniel stopped and stared at the chaos. There were kids everywhere training with everything from quarter staffs to crossbows to throwing knives. While usually they were accompanied by an adult, that wasn't always the case. Jonathan had several teenagers and two older women off to the side and was obviously teaching them self defense moves. The moves he was teaching them came straight from Ishta's group of Jaffa women warriors. The strangest sight was two young women about the same age, hanging upside down and practicing target shooting with crossbows.

Kit shrugged, it wasn't the first time they'd shocked someone with how they trained. "HEY JACK! YOUR FAMILY'S HERE!" Kit yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the large room.

Jack turned around at Kit's yell and waved at her. He'd be there in a minute. "Ok guys. Go work on something else until I get back." Then he headed over to where SG1 was waiting. "Figured George would be sending you down here soon." He said to them.

Jack (senior) made a fast decision. "MM, is there a Buffy Summers here?" He asked waving at the group.

Jack (junior) nodded and sent Kit off to get one of the girls hanging by their knees. "MM?" he asked sourly.

"Well, I'm sure as hell not going to call you Jonathan and there are too many Jack's around with both of us here." Jack said.

The younger Jack nodded as they waited for Buffy to come over to them. He knew how much they both hated Jonathan and MM was a good way to say Mini-Me without getting into things publicly.

"George said Miss Summers has clearance and what she chooses to tell her own people is her decision." O'Neill said.

Although with that permission he might as well save everyone the time and just go ahead and tell them straight up because Buffy had a policy of being as honest as possible with her crew. And he had wanted to tell Dawn ever since he had found out about her origins Jackson thought.

Kit brought back the blond of the hanging duet. "What's up Jack?" She asked.

"Buffy Summers, this is SG1. Col. Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, as you have probably already figured out, Teal'c isn't human. His race is called Jaffa. They are the ones who developed a lot of the odder hand to hand moves I've been teaching you and the others. Guys, Buffy is the one who is mostly in charge around here."

After handshakes all around, and Daniel, Carter, and O'Neill were surprised to see how calmly Buffy took the news that Teal'c wasn't human, they went into the living room and sat down. Daniel was the one who gave the standard speech about how the Stargate was found and how they now sent teams of explorers, scientists and diplomats around the galaxy. O'Neill explained how the Goa'uld had seeded the galaxy with humans and forced them to worship the System Lords as Gods. Carter was the one who explained about the Ancients who were the ones who had actually built the Stargate network. "They also built the seal that Jonathan sent me a picture of to translate." Daniel began, only to be interrupted by Jackson.

"Buffy, they built it to seal the hellmouth. Whoever broke in while we were dealing with the spiders on Halloween has started to open it through the seal."

"God damned Harbringers!" Buffy swore. She got up and paced. "I've kept the damned thing from being opened for over five years now and they just waltz right in and kill a Watcher to open it, not that Travers was worth much, but still. Is there anything else they need to do to open it?" She demanded Daniel.

"No, not really. It will take a full seven months though to fully open. It is possible to shut it back down. I'll need to see the seal in person before I can start to do any research on this particular seal, though." Daniel said.

Five years? This young woman was twenty years old, how could she have been keeping someone from opening the seal at that age? Jack thought.

Buffy nodded at Daniel. She knew the value of research after so many years. "Where do you come into this Jack?" She asked.

"Do you remember Xander telling you that I ran into someone who used to be considered a god?" Jackson asked. Buffy nodded and waited for the explanation. "Well, technically it wasn't me that ran into Loki. It was him." Jackson pointed over at O'Neill. "Basically he's an alien who wanted to study Jack. In order to do that he made me. I'm Jack's clone. I have all of his memories up to the time Loki took him. The only ones who know that I survived are SG1, General Hammond who runs the SGC and the President."

Buffy considered the group for a moment and then brought them back into the ballroom. She whistled and got everyone's attention. She then explained everything that she had been told. "Giles, do you want to give the speech?" She asked.

Giles nodded and began the standard Watcher speech. "This world is older than you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons walked the Earth, made it their home, their Hell. In time, they lost their purchase on this reality, and the way was made for mortal animals. For man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: certain magics, certain creatures….."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 16

Buffy had thought that she was used to dealing with the military after the Initiative. Now she wasn't so sure. If Jack hadn't told her that he was in essence the same person as the guy who was ranting at Giles, Wesley and Grace at the top of his lungs about kids being put in harms way, she'd have been a lot more offended. As it was she understood where O'Neill was coming from. Being called as a Slayer sucked. She sighed; it seemed that she was going to have to be the one who set O'Neill straight this time. Dawn was the one who had explained the situation to Jack.

She stood up and getting in between O'Neill and her Watcher, picked him up and shook him until he stopped yelling. "Look we inherited the system, we didn't start it. When it was started fifteen was an adult. But there is only one way to change it that so no little girl ever is called again. Do you want to know what that is?" O'Neill nodded and she set him down. Then she walked over to Amber and taking her by the arm led her over to O'Neill. Placing Amber in between them she looked into O'Neill's face and bluntly said, "Kill her and every little girl like her all over the world, right down to the babies and then you have to kill Faith and I. That is what it takes to end the Slayer line O'Neill. And that is what we are facing right now.

"An entity known as the First wants to end the Slayer line because the very existence of the Slayer is what keeps it bound and unable to do what it wants. That's why its minions are going around the world killing the little girls who have the Potential to become a Slayer. Amber just barely managed to make it here alive. Right now there is nothing really threatening about her, in fact if she makes it through the next four years without being called she will never become a Slayer. But there is still the chance that Faith will be killed and she will be called sometime within the next four years, so its Grace's job as her Watcher to get her ready for that. She's one of the lucky ones.

"I didn't find out about any of this until I was called. I went from being your average air headed fifteen year old freshman to the Vampire Slayer overnight. And I died just over a year later. That is the average life span of a Slayer, O'Neill. I was lucky. I had a Watcher who let me have friends and those friends refused to let me fight alone. That was what saved my life. I was drowned and Xander gave me CPR. But it also meant that the Slayer line was passed on. Kendra was called and she died a year later when a vampire slit her throat. That was when Faith was called. She's had an even harder time of it than usual. But with friends, she's gotten through the worst of it." Buffy smiled at Faith, who was sitting in Dean's arms. She turned back to O'Neill who was staring at her with saddened shock in his eyes. She ignored it. Now wasn't the time to fall into a pity party.

"The First is the one who started opening the hellmouth. I'm sure of it because of who it sacrificed for the ceremony. Quentin Travers was a member of the Watcher's Council and they had to have taken him from England. It would have been a lot easier to grab someone off of the street here in Sunnydale. None of us liked him very much, but I still wouldn't have wanted him dead like that. Grace called the Council and told them what was happening. They've gathered up the Potentials that they have nearby and brought them to the Watcher Council Headquarters. We have contacted several field Watchers and ex-Watchers and they are traveling the world right now looking for the rest of the Potentials. They will either bring them here or to the Council if they can get them away from the Harbringers. One of those men was Kendra's Watcher."

"As for the other children," Giles said softly with a sympathetic look for O'Neill, "I have found out through experience that nothing is going to stop them when those who choose to do so make up their minds to take on this task. There are those who choose to help in a far less dangerous capacity and we encourage that when ever possible. No person in this room has been untouched by the supernatural. Kit," Giles gestured at the girl, "Encountered a vengeful spirit at a birthday party. Of all twenty of the girls at that party, only Kit has volunteered to do more than just forget it ever happened. We accept volunteers Col. We don't recruit anyone to this war."

"They are worse than Skarra ever was." O'Neill turned to look at his clone. The memory was clear in both of their eyes of the young man who was Daniel's brother-in-law, and of what had happened to him. "They won't back down, Jack. The only thing we can do is make sure they don't run before they can walk."

O'Neill sighed and nodded his head. He remembered. He hadn't been able to do that with Skarra and look at what had happened to him and the other boys from Abydos. "There is one thing that the SGC can do though. We need to get the younger Potentials out of the line of fire. Like Buffy said, some of these girls are just babies. They have no way of defending themselves. Right now they are toddlers on a battlefield. Do you think George would authorize an SG team taking them through the Gate?" Jack asked his older self. He didn't know the situation at the mountain at the moment.

"No problem," O'Neill brightened at the thought of getting the youngest girls to safety.

"I get it!" Faith said and jumped up. "B, that way we get anyone under say, fourteen out of the way of the Harbringers and if I bite the big one and pass the line on, the next girl will be right here. Cause, you know the PTB's aren't gonna pick someone on the other side of the universe. They're gonna pick the girls that are right here on earth and all of the girls that will be of calling age will be right here anyway."

"You aren't gonna die!" Dean growled. "I ain't gonna let that happen." Faith smiled and pulled him over to an unoccupied corner. The others politely ignored the sappy moment going on in the corner and continued to watch Buffy and both Jacks hash out a plan to move the youngest of the Potentials to safety.

"Buffy, Dawn's taken off with Elizabeth, Tara, Willow and Major Carter." John said with a sigh.

"Where did she go?" Buffy asked, pausing in her conversation with O'Neill.

"Where else?" John sighed again. How were they supposed to ground her when she could pull that little trick? Buffy rolled her eyes and went back to hashing things out with O'Neill. At least she took Elizabeth with her this time.

"Magic can't be real." Major Carter told the small group of women she was talking to in an out of the way corner while her CO was ranting at the man in charge of this mess. These kids couldn't really be battling monsters and using magic. Magic wasn't real. People and aliens had used slight of hand and advanced technology for thousands of years to fake magic but there had never been a case of magic that was proven to be real.

"It does make sense Major." Tara said softly. "What we call magic isn't creating something out of nothing or parlor tricks. It is a way of using the energy produced by the earth itself to do things."

"The ability to touch that energy comes from the remnants that Giles was talking about earlier. Basically in every witch or warlock's ancestry is a demon. But it is so far back the only thing left of it is the ability to do magic. What we call demons are actually descendants of people and creatures from other dimensions that got left behind here when the real demons left. I'm talking about half-breeds and others who were too weak or who hid when the real demons got kicked back out of our dimension. If we were real demons we wouldn't be able to do magic because we wouldn't be tied to the earth and that would be because we weren't born here and everyone who is born here has a connection cause," Dawn and Tara gently laid their hands over Willow's mouth.

If people from another dimension had been able to cross-breed with humans the offspring just might have been able to inherit some thing like the ability to control magnetic fields like what had happened to Cassie a few years ago. "But how could they possibly have cross-bred?" Carter wanted to know. She had quickly gotten used to the way these people dealt with Willow's babbling. Secretly she was sure the Col. wished he could do the same when she and Daniel got going.

"The answer is lost to history, Major." Elizabeth said. "We are talking about something that happened literally before recorded history."

"Hey! Why don't we give her a demonstration?" Dawn said brightly.

"You just want to show off the new spell you learned." Tara teased.

"Why not? She's a scientist; they need to see for themselves before they believe." Dawn said seriously, besides she really did like the new spell. She just hoped that Elizabeth wouldn't say no. She loved the view. When Elizabeth nodded, she had everyone get close and asked Carter how large of a bubble would they need for air for ten minutes.

Puzzled Sam answered only to see a thick line of green light trace itself into a circle the size she had specified. Then, suddenly the line flared and she couldn't see for a second. When her eyes cleared, she couldn't believe her eyes. They were on the moon. This was a sight that she was familiar with, but Dawn couldn't be. This particular spot on the moon was far away from any of the famous pictures, but it wasn't too far away from the small base that had been set up to be the beginning of the planetary defense system the more nervous politicians had been screaming for while at the same time withholding the money needed. Everything she saw, from the specific rock formations to the dust to the way her body felt, there was no way this could be faked. She had too much experience with this particular spot. It was where she had gone off to scream when things went wrong on her short assignment here. "You took us to the moon?" she asked.

"Yep! This is a great spot for Earth watching this time of the month." Dawn said seriously.

"Umm, Dawnie, I think we'd better not come here again." Tara said and pointed over Dawn's shoulder. They all turned around to see what she was pointing at. Just a few feet away one of the base scientists stood staring at them.

"Ooops!" Dawn quickly reversed her spell. She was going to have to be more careful.

In the mansion's library Grace, Wesley and Daniel were going over every scrap of information the Sunnydale crew had on the hellmouth and the Ancients' seal. "You say there are seven hellmouths around the world?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, Sunnydale is by far the strongest, but the others are active as well." Wesley said. "All hellmouths attract the supernatural more than is usual and you often find large demonic communities nearby. Whether or not those communities are hostile to humans depends upon the species residing within."

"That makes sense," Daniel muttered, looking at the book in front of him. If he substituted the term demon with a more modern term of dimensional alien, a lot of the information made a great deal of sense. He was used to translating old and ancient writings into something that a modern military could understand. It sometimes seemed like that was half of his job. The other half of course, was being diplomatic enough not to piss off any allies and these people were allies. "How do you tell the difference between a demon and an alien?"

"Who says there is a difference?" Grace said with a smile. "After all, the only thing that matters about their point of origin is how it applies to how they should be dealt with."

Wesley nodded. "Simply because someone comes from another planet rather than another dimension doesn't mean that they would be treated any differently. As you yourself are aware, there are many different types of people out there with many different agendas. The simple fact is that we tend to run into more of the smash, kill, and or eat the humans types than you do. Or at least I hope so for your sake."

"You'd be surprised." Daniel laughed. "I think I've died about six or seven times so far and I don't even want to think about the torture some of my teammates have undergone. Some of the aliens we've run into just really aren't very nice."

"How did your Col O'Neill end up being cloned?" Grace wanted to know. She and Wesley both had a great deal of experience with Jack Jackson and both liked him very much. The combat tactics he had been teaching had saved them both from some severe injuries and both of their charges as well.

"Oh that was Loki. He's a renegade Asguard scientist. The Asguard have a well developed cloning technology, but the High Council didn't want to take any risks with the one human that they trusted. They slightly altered Jack's DNA so that he couldn't be successfully cloned. Jonathan is what happened when Loki tried anyway." Daniel explained, not wanting to go into the fact that at first they had thought that someone had merely regressed Jack in age rather than replaced him.

"Norse mythology?" Grace asked.

"Yes, most of the pantheon is real; Thor for instance is the High Commander of the Asguard fleet. Whenever one of their bodies wears out they transfer their intelligence into a new clone. They are some of Earth's strongest allies in our fight against the Goa'uld." Daniel explained.

"Goa'uld? Do you mean Gauld demons?" Wesley stood up and went over to a bookshelf muttering to himself. "Ah, here it is. Egypt, 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. Do they look something like this?" He showed Daniel a very realistic drawing of a Goa'uld parasite.

"Yes, that's them. There are two groups, the System Lords and Tok'Ra. It really isn't too surprising, but the System Lords want us to go back to worshiping them and the Tok'Ra pretty much think of us as children who are playing in their sandbox. There are lots of politics there." Daniel grumbled. "They have a superiority complex like you wouldn't believe."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too surprised; it is a common theme among those demons we deal with. I wonder if all of the hellmouths have similar seals or is it just the Sunnydale one." Wesley said, pondering the map that showed the location of all seven hellmouths.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 17

When it came time for the nightly patrol, Jackson asked Buffy if Teal'c could go with S2. "Why do you want him?" She asked as they were arming up.

"Would you believe it's because I haven't had a chance to talk with him yet?" He asked, not believing she'd buy it for a minute. Sure enough the look on her face said it all. "Ok, it's because he's the best fighter and I want him to watch our six while I'm getting my tail chewed on for not telling the others about being a clone." He admitted. It was a big secret and they both knew that Dawn especially would be hurt by his not revealing it. After all, she had told them about being a magical test tube kid. Buffy smiled and nodded. How could she say no when he was looking out for Dawn?

"Ok everybody; it's time for my speech." Sam said, getting the laughter that he had expected. What he got from SG1 were blank looks. "The dining room is set up for patch jobs. If you need the ER, go there! No exceptions! Aphra is on duty tonight so she'll call me if we need any magical antidotes. With this many new people I'm staying in tonight. I have a feeling I'm going to be busy. I don't want to be busy." He glared at everyone, but especially his brother who was making talk, talk, talk motions with his hand. "Stay safe, watch each others backs."

Buffy smiled at him and took his place in front of the group. "Ok, here are the patrol assignments. Grace, Amber, Xander, and Spike you have the North side. Pay attention around the college campus, I heard some rumors about a party that might get a little too much attention. Take Daniel with you. Daniel, you and the rest of the Watcher types can take a look at the hellmouth seal tomorrow.

"Wesley, Faith, Dawn, Kit, Carlos, Jack take the West and the high school patrol. Take Teal'c with you and watch out for the Crestwood Cemetery, Willow and Sam say there are three fledges scheduled to rise tonight. Talk to Sam about the location of the graves.

"Dean, Willow, Tara, Elizabeth, and Major Carter take the South side. It is supposed to be quiet down there tonight, so keep your guard up. You know there isn't any such thing as a quiet night anymore. Giles, John, O'Neill you are coming with me and covering the East patrol. Giles, make sure O'Neill has plenty of weapons he knows how to use. We have two nests to take out tonight. Any questions?"

Jackson interrupted O'Neill before he could do more than raise his hand. "Fledges are new vampires. Willow and Sam check the coroner's office computer to see what bodies are likely to become vampires on a daily basis. There has been an increase lately in the number of fledges. That's why they know about where the new fledges graves will be. If we can get them as they get out of their graves, they don't have time to kill anyone. Nests are what groups of vampires are called." O'Neill nodded. There were some advantages to having MM here. He knew not only the questions Jack was going to ask, but the answers as well.

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Jack, Kit, Carlos and Dawn were sitting and watching two of the graves that were supposed to hold fledges. According to Faith, they did. She, Wesley and Teal'c were standing a short distance away around another grave. "Ok guys, lay it out for me, how much trouble am I in?" Jack said quietly.

"I'm debating whether or not Elizabeth will let me turn you into a toad." Dawn said. Jack winced. He really didn't want to be a toad. Amy was still stuck as a rat and toads reminded him too much of that one world, well let's just say he really didn't like toads.

"You could have told us, you know." Kit said. Carlos nodded in agreement.

"I just got permission from the General tonight. Plus, you already knew I ran into a god once. Is it my fault Loki's an alien instead of from another dimension like Glory was?" Jack whined. "I tried to talk around it."

"It's that national security stuff, huh?" Dawn said.

Jack nodded. "There just isn't much I can do about that. I wanted to tell you ever since you told us about you being a MTTK."

"Well, you're almost forgiven. How old are you anyway?" Dawn asked.

"It's been nine months since Loki ruined my life." Jack grumped and shot the first fledgling right in the heart with his crossbow.

"How can you say that? If he didn't do what he did, you wouldn't be here with us!" Kit huffed and shot at the second fledge. She missed, but Carlos' bolts hit the heart.

Jack looked over at Dawn and saw that she had a sympathetic smile on her face. Yes, if any one would be able to understand it would be Dawn.

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Sam Zabuto heaved a sigh of relief as he passed the Welcome to Sunnydale sign. Now all he had to do was to find the Summers' house. He glanced in the review mirror at his charges. All five were sleeping. Soon they would be safe. He was still surprised that he had managed to get the last two before the Harbringers. He had thought for certain that the Harbringers would have killed them before he got there. He certainly hadn't thought that he would be able to just buy the last girl, although he knew that selling children born to starving farm families was common in that country. He shook his head once more at the shame of it, although it had expedited the girl's rescue. "Soon girls, soon you will be with those who will know your true worth."

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Sam's cell phone started ringing right in the middle of when she was fighting for her life. The girl she was fighting wasn't much bigger than Sam, but she was strong and having seen her face warp, Sam was willing to accept that she was a vampire as the other girls were insisting. Silently she thanked Ishta for her fighting lessons on how to fight a stronger opponent and getting in close broke the vampire's knee caps before ramming the flat of her hand into the vampire's nose driving the cartilage into the brain. Then she staked it, having seen the results of what had happened when Elizabeth had done the same. She still wasn't fully prepared for the dust explosion though, and was coughing when she answered her phone.

"Hello? Yes, General. Yes sir that was me. It was a demonstration sir. I still don't understand the technology involved sir; it seems to be transdimensional in origin. Have you spoken to the Col. yet sir? He has more information for you sir. Goodbye sir." She hung up and looked at Willow and Tara who were giggling at her. "It seems the scientist who saw us reported my appearance on the moon to General Hammond." She returned the phone to her pocket and continued the patrol with all three women giggling behind her.

Dean walking beside her said, "I'm sorry if my sister got you into trouble with your CO."

"She didn't, he was checking to see if the scientist was hallucinating. After all, seeing five people sitting on the surface of the moon without suits but not in any distress is a rather disturbing sight. They had to sedate him. It will all be cleared up by the time he wakes up. He'll be informed that he wasn't crazy, he really did see us. The people on base are used to seeing strange technologies."

"And you think magic is technology." Dean said in disbelief.

"Someone once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. That is something I've learned to live by these last few years. Although usually the people telling me about the magic are untechnologically advanced slaves." Dean joined the ladies behind him in laughter and saw the grin that Major Carter was trying to hide.

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Sam Zabuto knocked on the door and prayed that Buffy Summers still lived here. "Yes?" An older woman with extremely short hair looked out from the window beside the door. Sam approved, this was someone who knew not to open the door at night. "I'm looking for Buffy Summers or Rupert Giles madam. My name is Sam Zabuto."

The woman opened the door just slightly and threw a small ball at him. In surprise, he caught it. When it touched his hand, it glowed a deep blue. Seeing the glow from the ball, the woman opened the door fully. "Mr. Zabuto, welcome to Sunnydale. I'm Joyce Giles, Buffy's mother. Did you manage to rescue any of the girls?"

"Yes," He sighed. "I managed to find five of them, but they are not very old, I must warn you."

"Buffy and the others are already making plans to find a way to get the girls to a safe place where the Harbringers can't find them." The woman ran over to his car. "Let's get them inside quickly. We don't want to lose them now." Putting her words into action, she reached in and unbuckled the seatbelt to the smallest car seat and took it out of the car. She hurriedly carried the car seat and the three month old baby girl inside it into the house.

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Col. Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill had a lot of strange combat experience. He had battled Jaffa on many different planets, Replicators on board space ships and submarines, and men on horseback with swords and bows and arrows. But fighting vampires took the cake. He sat against the warehouse wall while watching Buffy, John and Giles go over some papers that Giles had found. This was the second warehouse they had been to tonight. The first one, John had taken a look through one of the upper windows and had simply said, "Fifty." Buffy had sworn and went back to John's truck bringing back four gasoline tanks with her. They were full and she had sent them all too different sides of the warehouse to torch the place. Giles had done some kind magic; (at least he was going to assume it was magic after Carter had taken a short trip to the MOON! without a spacesuit!) that had prevented anyone from escaping the warehouse as it burned to the ground.

When he had asked about innocents, Buffy had looked at him with blank eyes and said there wasn't anything left alive in there. "These are Aurliean Vampires, O'Neill. They aren't like the Gauld. When a person is turned by an Aurliean Vampire the body dies and the soul leaves. Nothing of the person is left. I know someone who went through that."

"Wait a minute, if you know someone who went through it,"

"Special circumstances, O'Neill. He was literally cursed with the return of his soul, but only after the demon had his body for more than a hundred and fifty years." Buffy sighed and turned back to O'Neill. "I'm sorry, its just that Angel is a good friend and that," she waved her hand behind her at the burning building, "Could easily happen to him by someone who doesn't understand that he's one of the good guys."

Jack had understood and even approved of her actions after that. There had been way too many for the four of them to take on by themselves and all of the others were busy with their own problems. He had noticed that Buffy wore a head set for a closed circuit radio system. He had asked John about it and was told that it linked all of the patrol groups into a system where they could all hear each other. That way if someone ran into trouble he or she couldn't handle they could get reinforcements quickly. It was a good system, especially since it seemed to be becoming more and more like a battlefield than the haunted streets they were used to. It wasn't to that point yet, but they could see a time when it was coming.

His cell phone rang and he answered it, too tired to wonder who was calling him this late at night. "O'Neill. Good evening to you too sir. Yes sir, one of Miss Summers' people took Carter to the moon. They were only gone for a few minutes sir. Yes sir they did not take any space suits. They were wearing civvies sir. I have no idea sir.

"Yes sir, Miss Summers has a request. There are some children, all girls, who need to be evacuated to the Land of Light. Basically because there are these aliens from another dimension who are trying to kill them all and the only way they have of coming to this dimension is here on earth. I understand there have been quite a few deaths sir. None of the girls are over eighteen and Miss Summers is asking us to evacuate those under fourteen. Yes sir, babies too. I don't know sir and I don't think they do either. They have people working on getting some of the girls to another location in England. Yes sir, I'll tell her." He hung up and leaned his head back against the wall. The next time he came to Sunnydale he was bringing a zat, regs or no regs.

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Teal'c watched as the girl Faith fought what looked to be a terrifying monster right out of the tales Jaffa women scared their children into obedience with. This was one girl he wished to spar with. He literally could not see her strikes she was so fast. And they were powerful strikes as well. The creature could not lay a single hand on her for all that it had six of them. "Faith," Wesley yelled, "Its heart is behind its tail!" The scholar put his small machine back into his pocket and directed the young warriors to distract the beast so that Faith could spear its heart with her sword. It took but a few moments for the beast to be felled.

This was a battle to get the blood pumping. Among other things it seemed by the words Faith was sending to her lover, DeanWinchester. He too was a fine warrior. There were not many even among the warrior races that he had met as a member of SG1 that would encourage their women to do their duty as warriors as this young one did. There were few injuries taken among young Jackson's S2, and those were mostly minor.

"Tell me we don't have to bury this one." Carlos moaned. "I'm wiped."

"There's a cave over there." Dawn pointed. "All we gotta do is drag it over there and leave it. Scavengers will take care of the rest."

"Give me a hand T." Jack said. He grabbed one of the demon's legs while Teal'c grabbed the other. While they took care of the body, Wesley got the rest of S2 loaded into his car. He was glad that he had thought to purchase such a large old vehicle. With the top down it was possible to not only cram all of his passengers into the car, the stench of the demon blood wasn't overpowering.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 18

Rupert Giles was tired. He had dropped SG1 back at the hotel after everyone had finished with their patrols and the end of patrol patching up had been finished. The only thing he wanted right now was to sleep. He went into his house through the kitchen door and stopped with one foot on the first step of the staircase to the second floor. Joyce was feeding a baby. She was rocking in her chair in the living room and feeding a baby. He took off his glasses, polished them, put them back on and looked again. Yes, she was definitely giving a baby a bottle. "Joyce," he began.

"Shhhhh!" Joyce held her finger to her lips. She nodded in the direction of the couch. Giles took a few steps to where he could see that Mr. Zabuto was stretched out on the couch, fast asleep.

"He made it then. Is she one of the Potentials?" Giles asked.

Joyce nodded. "He wasn't sure he would be able to get them all here, but he made it. The other four are upstairs. None of the girls are over ten Rupert. Mr. Zabuto actually told me that he bought the seven year old from her parents! He said it's quite common for large farm families to sell off their girl children where she's from. He said he was glad because it helped him get her out so quickly. He had to kidnap this little angel right out of her bed. Thank goodness he knew what he was doing."

"He is one of the best field Watchers there is Joyce. That's why I asked him to do this. I can't leave Sunnydale. Wesley can't leave Faith nor can Grace leave Amber. I'm afraid that leaves us very short handed for people to gather the surviving Potentials." Giles patted her on the shoulder and took the now sleeping baby from her. Do we have any place to put this sleeping beauty?" Joyce nodded and led the way to one of the bedrooms.

Early the next morning Giles and Joyce led Mr. Zabuto and his car full of young Potentials up to the mansion where those who could were meeting. SG1 was standing by the fireplace in the living room looking at the chaos that was mornings at Slayer Central in shock once more.

"FAITH I DON'T CARE IF THE ALIEN SAID HE WANTED TO SPAR WITH YOU THIS MORING! YOU ARE GOING TO SCHOOL!" Wesley yelled at the top of his lungs up the staircase.

"No Amber you can't go to school with Faith and Dawn. You are not getting that close to a hellmouth unless you are called and that is final!" Grace said on the other side of the living room. Amber was pouting and twirling the stake that was in her hands.

"Wes, we're out of stakes! I can't go to school without stakes!" Dawn charged into the living room.

"NOBODY DID LAUNDRY AND I TRASHED MY LAST OUTFIT LAST NIGHT WES! I GOTTA WASH CLOTHES AND THAT MEANS I CAN"T GO TO SCHOOL!"

"Dawn there is another chest full of stakes in the kitchen, Joyce carved them last night. FAITH WEAR YOUR DRESS! IF IT'S THE LAST THING YOU'VE GOT, DEAL WITH IT! WE CAN'T BE LATE; WE NEED TO ESCORT DR. JACKSON THIS MORNING!"

"BUT IT'S A DRESS!!!!" Faith wailed.

"DEAN THOUGHT YOU LOOKED GOOD IN IT!" There was silence from the second floor and then Faith walked down the stairs in the one and only dress she owned. The same dress she wore to Joyce's wedding.

She glared at Wesley. "You don't wear a nice dress to patrol in Wes." Wesley merely looked at her. "Ok, ok, so B does. But I need more clothes and there had better not be anything that needs slaying today. I don't want to get anything on this. It was for the wedding and if I don't ruin it, I can wear it to B and John's wedding later." She stormed off in the direction of the kitchen. "Hey Dawn Patrol! Did you find those stakes?"

Wesley sighed and looked over at where Amber and Grace were having their staring contest. "Well it looks like she's gaining some spirit at last." He said softly. Although he didn't approve of her fighting with her Watcher, he did approve of her standing up for what she wanted and right now she wanted to go to school with the other girls.

"Grace did you see where my scrying bowl went to? I could have sworn the darned thing was in the library." Elizabeth said as she came down the stairs. "Oh, Rupert what are you doing here this morning?" Her question brought everyone's attention to the group standing just inside the doorway.

"Elizabeth Giles, Wesley Wyndom Pryce, Grace Henry and her Potential Amber, Col. Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, the Slayer Faith, and Dawn Summers (who had just returned from their stake finding expedition), this is Mr. Sam Zabuto and the Potentials he has managed to rescue; Ana, Mirriam, Meire, Irene, and Adriana." The girls ranged in age from Ana, who was the youngest at three months to Adriana who was the oldest at ten.

"We'll be able to get them to the Land of Light in three days." O'Neill said abruptly. There was no way he was letting these little girls die. "We can leave for Cheyenne Mountain as soon as Daniel says he's got enough on this rock."

"They're artifacts Jack, not rocks." Daniel said in a long suffering tone.

"Mr. Zabuto, you and the girls can stay here while Daniel gets what he needs." Dawn offered. "This is Slayer Central around here right now, so we have some seriously heavy duty wards on the place."

"You are quite right Dawn." Wesley said. He was one of the few who knew exactly where Mr. Zabuto had to go to retrieve these Potentials and he was disturbed by the fact that he was alone. Why weren't the girls' Watchers with him? "May I show you to a room sir?" Zabuto realized that Pryce probably knew that the girls and he didn't have anything to put away so he must be trying to get him away from the girls for a minute.

"Of course, Mr. Pryce." He said and followed Wesley up the stairs.

"What happened to their Watchers?" Wesley asked in a sad voice, knowing the answer before Zabuto spoke.

"Only three of them had Watchers. Little Ana was only just pinpointed as a Potential and I saw Harbringers in her hometown looking for her. As for the three Watchers, two were dead before I got there and the last practically threw his Potential into my arms before he led the Harbringers away." Wesley closed his eyes in grief. So many lives, all of them gone simply because an evil entity wanted out of its bindings.

"I must go the high school. It sits directly on top of the hellmouth and Faith is needed there today especially. Dr. Jackson is a linguist and he needs to translate a seal that was found. The First began the process to open the hellmouth and the seal is related somehow. Fortunately for us, it takes about seven months to open fully. If we are lucky Dr. Jackson will be able to find a way to close it before it goes critical." Wesley said.

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Buffy was sitting behind the counter at the Magic Box both waiting on customers and waiting for her Watcher. She hated having to torch buildings; it always reminded her of burning down the Hemry High Gym, the lives she had lost that night and what came after that.

The bell above the door rang and she looked up, grateful for the interruption. It was Giles. "Hey Giles, you're late. Did something happen or shall we just say newlywed and leave it at that?" She teased.

"Very amusing Buffy. As a matter of fact, something did happen. Mr. Zabuto arrived last night." Giles held up his hand to stop Buffy's questions before she could say a word. "He managed to rescue five little girls. The oldest is ten and the youngest is three months. Col. O'Neill has already offered to take them to somewhere he called the Land of Light as soon as Dr. Jackson has the information he needs from the seal. Although I believe Faith is hoping that he takes long enough so that she and Teal'c can spar at least once."

"That's one sparing session I wouldn't mind getting in on myself. Jack says that he is the best fighter among SG1." Buffy said with a little sigh, contemplating what sort of moves Teal'c would be capable of.

"Well, while you are trying to decide if it is fair to make the poor man spar with two Slayers in the same day, perhaps you could assist me in cataloging the next chest from the Jekfoontar's vault." Buffy smiled and went to move the chest from the back room and over to the research table where Giles already had several books out.

It had been an added bonus to both the destruction of the clan and Dawn's Key magic. They had ended up with ownership of the clan's mansion, thanks to Willow and Sam's hacking. Transporting things back and forth with Dawn's magic gave her a chance to really study and get to know her personal connection to portal magic. Not to mention that once everything was examined and cataloged they were going to have one hell of a stash of cash and other goods.

"Giles are you ready for Dawn's birthday party?" Buffy asked as she unloaded a very ugly bowl out of the chest and onto the table.

"Are you joking? It will be my granddaughter's first birthday, of course I'm ready. I've already sent for her present and it should arrive today. I'm all stocked up on warding ingredients for the pool party. By the way, how on earth did you manage to get John to agree to a pool party for her friends?"

"I didn't, Dawn did and she had to agree to no boys allowed. It was either that, or she'd be wearing a one of Sam's T-shirts all day. She's been grumbling about unreasonable fathers for weeks now whenever someone reminds her." Buffy said laughing. She didn't mind John's restrictions herself. She was grateful Dawn had a father who cared enough to pay attention to how old she was and made restrictions on her activities based on her age. "She was only a little mollified when John told her she could start dating when she turned two or sixteen as the case maybe."

"Has she got someone in mind?" Giles asked curious.

"Well she did say that Jack wasn't bad now and he really turns into a hottie when he gets older. Plus there is that whole, strange origins things they both have going for them." Buffy turned and waved her finger at her Watcher. "That is privileged information Mr. Giles! Dawn is nowhere near ready for anyone to give the shovel speech yet and Jack doesn't have a clue."

"Of course," Giles said solemnly. It was this sort of thing that made Giles think of his position as Buffy's Watcher as rather like being a priest. Nothing of what she said to him would go beyond him. Although John was her lover and her fiancé, he was her confidant. Giles thoughts were interrupted by Willow and Tara running into the shop at top speed.

"Giles, there's been a terrorist bombing in London!" The girls cried as they ran full tilt into the table.

"Tara, Willow, the two of you watch the shop." Buffy ordered as she helped the shocked Giles to his feet. She hurried him out of the shop and over to The Gallery, where her mother was working this morning. Buffy knew that her mother had a TV in the break room and that she had cable for it for her employees, one of whom was addicted to CNN. It was bound to be on CNN if there really was a bombing in London, not that she thought Willow or Tara was lying, she just hoped they were wrong.

They weren't. The TV showed what was left of a large stately building, one of those old monstrosities that England was famous for, laying in ruins. "Giles, would any of your family be anywhere near there." Buffy asked her Watcher as she held him up on one side and Joyce held him up on the other.

"That's the Council headquarters." Giles said in a dead voice. Buffy and Joyce stared at each other in shock.

"Mom, I have to get to the school and then mansion. I'll take Tara with me. Can you watch Giles? We need to get the little ones out of Sunnydale now."

Joyce nodded and Buffy ran off. Joyce stared at the screen. How many were dead? Were there any survivors at all? Would any of them be Potentials or were the next generations of the Slayer dead as well?

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Her head hurt. That was the first thing that Ellen was aware of. The second was that the emergency lights were on. She was in the vault, yes that was right. She was in the vault because she had been looking for information on the First. She paused another moment trying to get her brain to function. There was something else, what was it? Oh yes, she wasn't supposed to be here. She had sneaked in; or rather her boss thought she was someplace else. Good; now she knew where she was and why she was here. Now perhaps she could figure out what had happened.

She looked around and saw that the table she had been sitting at was smashed into the back wall of the vault beside her and her chair was to her other side. The doorway to the vault was filled with bricks and debris. Oh no! Not here, not now! The dammed fools couldn't have blown up the building! They didn't have much to do with the conflict in Ireland! Why would those idiots blow up the Council! Well she couldn't just sit on her bum here! She had to get out, but first she had to make sure that the contents of the vault were secure. And there was only one way to do that.

Unsteadily she got to her feet, and not noticing the blood that was pouring out of the smashed back of her skull, she did something that she would have never done if her mind hadn't been so messed up from her injuries. She took an amulet out of one of the small drawers and smeared her blood on it. "Come to my command!"

A small demon, bound to the amulet, appeared before her. "Take everything from the vault and give it to Buffy The Vampire Slayer!" She said.

"By your command, Mistress of the Amulet." The demon bowed and whisked everything through a tear in the fabric of space that would lead him to the one person named in the command. He was sooo booored! Couldn't these humans come up with something more dangerous than moving things around? Well, at least he only had another thousand years to go on his sentence.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 19

Buffy and Tara hurried into the high school and Buffy led the way straight to Dawn's classroom. "Mr. Davis? I need to take Dawn out of class today. And I need to speak to Kit, Carlos, and Jack for a minute as well." Mr. Davis nodded and waved the kids out of class.

"Mom, you promised!" Dawn hissed as she soon as they were out in the hallway.

"Dawn, the Harbringers just bombed the Watcher's Council. There's nothing left. Jack, guard Kit and Carlos and all three of you take Faith's patrol today." Buffy told them.

"Mom, if they are taking Faith's patrol they need me!" Dawn protested while Jack, Kit and Carlos nodded.

"You have a bigger job. Did you meet the little Potentials?"

"Yes?" Dawn asked, not seeing where Buffy was going.

"I need you to go with SG1 and get them off the planet. Come on." Buffy took Dawn's hand and dragged her off towards the basement while Jack got Kit and Carlos back into class.

Down in the basement Faith was watching Daniel, Sam and Wesley while she stood by Teal'c and O'Neill. The Watcher types were doing something. She wasn't sure just what it was they were doing, but Wesley seemed to be following along with whatever it was that Daniel was talking about.

Principal Brown was hovering nervously in the background. When Faith had told him that someone had opened the hellmouth but it wasn't critical yet and they were bringing in some experts to try and figure out how to close it, this wasn't what he had imagined. The two scientist types were odd enough, but the other two looked to be some kind of body guards or something.

Buffy charged down the steps to the basement and ran over to where she could hear a large group of people talking. She went straight to the only Watcher there. "Wes, I have bad news."

"Buffy what are you doing here?" Wesley asked. He saw that she had Tara and Dawn with her. That combined with the fact that she had said she had bad news caused a sinking feeling in his guts. Couldn't they catch a break now and then? He had only just learned of the deaths of three of his colleagues this morning.

Buffy ignored the looks from everyone else in the basement and concentrated on Wesley. She took his arm. "The Harbringers bombed the Council, Wes. As far as we can tell from the news reports there isn't anything left." She said softly. Easing him down as he sat down in shock, she waved Tara over to look after him. "Tara's going to stay with you for right now Wes, but I need Faith to take the little Potentials to safety.

"Faith, I know you want to look after Wesley right now, but we need to get the little Potentials out of Sunnydale right now. They might be the only ones left. It shouldn't take you too long but you need to take them and go right now. Col. O'Neill?"

"I heard and don't worry. They'll be ok." O'Neill said as he waved to his team.

"You'll be taking Dawn too. She's not going with you to protect her. She's the in the running for the strongest magic user we have right now. She has a very limited range of spells, but nothing can get past her shielding spell. If they try to bomb you, she's the best chance any of you have to survive. Faith will be able to tell if the Harbringers get close. How quickly can you get them," she paused due to the presence of the school principal. "Away from here?"

"They'll be safe within 24 hours." O'Neill promised. "Danny,"

"I'm ready Jack." Daniel said as he hiked his book bag over his shoulder.

"Then let's go."

Everyone but Wesley and Tara rushed out of the school and out to SG1's vehicle. Mr. Brown helped Tara get Wesley out to her car. "Don't worry about the students today, Mr. Brown. We have three of the other students covering Faith's patrol for school hours today and someone will come and tell you what we figure out for the rest of the time Faith is out of town." Tara reassured the principal.

When they got to the mansion, O'Neill sent the girls in and told Buffy that they would be back in less than 45 minutes. They just needed to get their stuff from the hotel and that would give her time to explain the situation to those at the mansion. Buffy sent Dawn and Faith to change clothes and to pack whatever else they would need in the way of weapons etc. Then she sought out Grace and Mr. Zabuto, whom she still hadn't met.

'Great!' Faith thought to herself as she raced up to her room. 'I've got no clean clothes except this dress of all things, and now I don't have any time at all to wash or buy or hell, even steal any more. Those damned Harbringers had better not get any where near those cute little babies. I'll rip them to shreds.' She burst into her room and saw a pile of clean clothes on her bed. 'Oh thank you Amber or Grace or whoever!' She threw off her dress, put her weapons on the bed and scrambled into her sturdiest outfit. 'This one should do the job. Even if I have to ditch the rest of the clothes, these will take the abuse. Where did my axe go?' She quickly rearmed herself and then went and loaded up a backpack with a change of clothes and the rest of her weapons kit. She paused for a second over the shotgun that Dean had given her. Dean had made sure that she trained with his type of weapons as well as the more traditional ones Wesley taught her. He had also made sure that she had a weapons kit complete with a copy of everything that he carried. Buffy had laughed when she had seen the kit and told her about the throwing stars John had given her. Those Winchesters really knew the way to a Slayer's heart. God she loved that man! 'Gotta tell B to make sure Dean knows where I've gone; have her tell him I'll call as soon as I can.' She made sure she had her cell and raced down to the living room.

Three hours later they were in the air and Faith could relax. Right now it was Dawn's turn to guard them and that meant that she had another duty to attend to. One that she had never thought would be possible. She stood up and moved away from the Potential she was sitting next to and went over to where Mr. Zabuto was sitting. She knelt in beside him and bowed her head. This was almost as hard as apologizing to the Scoobies. "Mr. Zabuto, I need to say I'm sorry for not being a good Slayer. I lost my mind for a while and I did things that I'm not proud of. Kendra's memory deserves better and I'm doing my best now to make sure that I'm the sister she deserved."

"I have been told what happened Faith. Yes, you did things that you should not have done. However, you are doing your best now and you are here guarding those who cannot guard themselves. You are worthy of being Kendra's successor."

SG1 looked on as Faith raised a tear stained face and hugged the older man. After she had gone back to her seat Jack took the bull by the horns and leaned over to ask, "Was Kendra your Slayer?"

"Yes, she was Col. O'Neill. As you were told, since the creation of the Slayer line it has been when one Slayer dies the next is called. Buffy Summers drowned and was dead long enough for the next Slayer to be called. She was revived with CPR. Kendra was the next Slayer and she died a year later. Faith was called when Kendra died. Faith had an accident, something that occasionally happens unfortunately, and she lost her mind for a while. She has recovered, but it has not been easy for her. That she felt she had to apologize to me because she cannot apologize to Kendra is a good thing. It means that she is finally back where she belongs, one of the sisterhood once more."

"A sisterhood that those little girls will belong to?" Major Carter asked.

"With the loses we suffered today, there is little doubt that all of the five girls I rescued will be called. Most of the Potential Slayers were at the Watcher's Council building. If my memory serves me there are only five Potentials over the age of fourteen outside of London right now and you have already met one of them. I don't know about the younger ones. It was once they reached the age of calling that the Council kept close track of them. I am also unaware of how many Potentials have been killed outside of the bombing. "

Everyone but S2 who were still in town was gathered in the mansion's parlor. S2 was still covering Faith's daily patrol. It was one of the few rooms that had enough comfortable furnishings for all of them. There was little talking going on, just a lot of silent grief. Although few in the room would mourn the passing of the old Council, they knew that there had been many innocents in the building as well. Buffy had passed on Faith's message to Dean and was now wrapped up in John's embrace. Joyce was holding Giles, and Elizabeth and Wesley were clinging to each other as well. Grace of course, was holding on to Amber for all she was worth. The rest of the Scoobies were sitting around in shock.

A flash of light filled the room and a small demon, which was standing next to the corpse of a woman, looked around. "May I ask who is Buffy Summers?" He squeaked.

"I am," Buffy said and got off John's lap.

"AH! The Mistress of the Amulet," he gestured at the corpse at his feet, "ordered me to bring you the contents of the vault." He made another gesture and the room was suddenly filled with all sorts of objects and books and scrolls. The demon then bowed and turned into smoke, which was then absorbed by the amulet that the dead woman was holding.

"The vault," Wesley murmured while Giles got up and examined the corpse.

"It's Ellen; she was the clerk who passed on the information to us about the Council." Giles said in a choked voice.

"She was trying to get us more information on the First." Wesley said and left the room. He came back a few moments later with a large blanket. Carefully and with a great deal of respect the men placed Ellen's corpse on the blanket and wrapped her up.

"Her injuries are consistent with having been in the building when it exploded." Giles said quietly and picked up the body. Joyce had already called the Coroner's office and he and Wesley went to wait for them.

Grace looked around at the stunning amount of things that the demon had transported into the room. Knowing that they needed to get the items organized, she began with the only table in the bunch. It would have been the research table in the vault and what ever Ellen had been working on would be in the ruins of the table. Sure enough there was a scroll, a reference text, a Sumerian to Latin dictionary, and a sheet of notes. She gathered them up and handed them to John. The man may have been self educated where the supernatural was concerned, but his Latin was very good.

John and Sam settled down around one of the small corner nook tables and got to work figuring out just what it was that Ellen had been working on. While Xander took the remains of the table and chair out of the room and down to the armory (they had been wood and would be recycled into stakes) the rest of the group began sorting the piles that lay all over the room. Buffy went and brought back boxes to fill.

There were books of all kinds, although mostly they were old and musty. Elizabeth grew concerned as she read some of the titles. These were books that should be locked up. The one she had in her hands right now contained a powerful demon. She carefully sorted out the dangerous books from the books on dangerous subjects. That was a powerful distinction when dealing with magical items and students.

Grace took to sorting the scrolls in a similar manner as Elizabeth was the books and for much of the same reasons. Buffy and Spike took the boxes and moved them to the other rooms as directed by Elizabeth and Grace. Dean was sorting the weapons into evil, seriously magic and simply magic items. Tara was doing the same for the objects and Willow was the one moving the boxes for them.

"Where did I hear, no I read about this somewhere." John muttered as he reread the description that Sam had retranslated into Latin. A crossbow that spits bolts of fire wasn't that a description Pastor Jim had said was the old seers way of saying a gun? Yeah, it was and there was something about a gun in those papers that they had found when they had taken out that nest of vampires. Now where did Giles put them? John got up and left to go to the library. That was where almost all of the papers around here ended up. Yes, here they were. John picked them up and took them back to the parlor and the research he and Sam were doing.

"Sam, is this what I think this is?" He asked quietly, not wanting to get the other's hopes up.

Sam read over the papers and checked and rechecked all of the papers, the reference text and the scroll. Then he looked up and grinned at his dad. "It's a way to kill the First." He jumped up and whistled to get everyone's attention. By this time Wesley and Giles had returned from their grim errand. "Ellen and Dad found a way to kill the First. It won't be easy, but we have a possibility now." A glimmer of hope rose in the hearts of those listening. "Back in 1835, when Halley's Comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo, Samuel Colt made a gun. A special gun. He made thirteen bullets. According to these papers, this gun can kill anything."

"Kill anything, like supernatural anything?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, like supernatural anything, including the First."

"Now all we gotta do is find the gun." Dean said mulling the idea over.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 20

Col. O'Neill had called ahead, so they were expected at the front gate. Faith was sure that the guards weren't expecting the Potentials or the shield that Dawn was maintaining from the look of the one guy who tried to pat one of the Potentials on the head. It was the first time she had heard any of the girls giggle. When she winked at the oldest girl she joined in the giggling as well. Faith was glad for that because it was looking like that would be the last bit of fun any of them would have for a long time. The stupid guards on the inside didn't want to let her inside. After arguing for a full five minutes, Col. O'Neill had called his boss, a General Hammond. The man himself was coming up to escort her down.

General Hammond had a headache. An O'Neill sized headache. Most of the time he could blame these headaches on all of SG1, but apparently it was Col. O'Neill this time that was trying to get an armed to the teeth civilian into Cheyenne Mountain. He sighed, if what Jack had said over the phone was any indication, this person had to be one of the body guards that Miss Summers had sent with the little girls. He still wanted to know why these little girls were being targeted.

What he saw when he finally reached the checkpoint where Col. O'Neill and his party had been stopped (the dividing line between NORAD and the SGC) he stopped so he could recover from his shock. He had been expecting a party of little girls being escorted by bodyguards. What he didn't expect was for the bodyguards themselves to be young girls.

Both had dark hair and were slender, but that was all that was similar about them. The older one was poured into biker leathers that showed more than they hid. The younger one was dressed conservatively in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt. The older one as he was told earlier was armed to the teeth, and he had never seen someone who more fitted that description. She was wearing and holding a variety of weapons from knives to guns to what looked to be a loaded crossbow and a sword and axe strapped to her back! The younger one on the other hand, looked as though she were out for a stroll with her younger sisters. He shook his head as the older girl stared at him and made a 'will you hurry up already?' face in his direction. This was going to be interesting.

"Ah, General, this is Faith and Dawn, they are two of Miss Summers' people. Faith is the one who is armed and while Dawn is as well; she is the one who is in charge of the, whatever it is,"

"It's called magic," Dawn snarked at him.

"She's maintaining an energy field around the girls, sir. These are the ones who we've been asked to send off world." Jack gestured at the small children that were gathered around Dawn.

"You said something about the situation escalating?" Hammond asked as he waved the entire group into the elevator. He'd deal with the Sergeant at the check point later.

"Yes sir."

"They blew up the Watcher's Council in London. No loss as far as we're concerned about the old geezers in charge, but a lot of the girls and other people died. We don't know how many yet. So far these five," Faith gestured at the girls gathered around Dawn, "and one girl old enough to stay in Sunnyhell are the only surviving Potentials that we know about." Faith interrupted. "I'm sorry to just butt in like this, but we got ta get these girls out of here now. I'm starting to get twitchy and it ain't cause of the ones like T here." She jerked her thumb at Teal'c. "Dawn Patrol, get them inside the shield now." Dawn didn't ask any questions, she just dropped the shield and brought it back up around everyone but Faith who had backed herself into a corner of the elevator.

"Man, these guys feel oily." Faith muttered to herself and she shuddered. Most of the time the hellmouth overwhelmed her Slayer senses to the point where she could only sense things from about a block away, but when she was out of its influence, she could feel the demons coming from quite a ways off. That was another difference between her and Buffy. Buffy was one of the dreaming slayers, ones that had a stronger connection with the Powers That Be, while she was more in tune with sensing what was wrong around her. And something was wrong now.

The elevator opened and Faith let a little bit of the Slayer out. She knew she'd never be able to ride it, but she had learned the last few months how to let just enough of it out to do her job. She was glad now that Dean had talked her into learning how. 'Treat it just like another weapon, Faith' his words rang in her mind. 'You're in control. You have to let it ride you to lose it like you did before. If you don't let it, it won't happen.'

She slunk out of the elevator, the people inside getting a look at the predator within her. It didn't take long for her to find the Harbringers. They were coming through a Portal into the commissary or mess hall or cafeteria or whatever the hell these people called it. Someone had managed to set off the alarms just as she reached the door. Personally she was impressed with these people's ingenuity. How many people would start a food fight with rampaging demons rather than run screaming?

She waded in with her axe when she realized that her crossbow would take too long. There were too many of the damned things coming through the Portal. Teal'c and some other guys with guns came charging into the room after her. "Dawnie! There's a Portal in here! Can you do something?" Faith yelled as she ducked a burst of bullets from one guy's gun and came swinging up with her axe to decapitate the Harbringer behind the one caught by the bullets.

Dawn stuck her head around the door frame. The General was behind her barking orders into one of those emergency wall phones. "You don't have to do that." She told him when she heard him tell someone to shut down the Mountain.

"Why not?!" He demanded.

"Because I've got it," She told him seriously. She stuck one hand around the corner and she felt him crowd up behind her and stick his own head around the doorway. She sent her magic reaching out to the Portal. It was a simple one and she shut it down easily. Thank goodness Elizabeth had been having her practice by opening and closing Portals to Cleveland for months. The Harbringers didn't stop when she shut down the Portal, but Faith, Teal'c and the soldiers easily took care of the remaining demons.

Two hours later they were all in one of the conference rooms with all but the baby having a piece of pie or chocolate cake in front of them. That was all that remained of the deserts. The rest had been used as ammunition by the kitchen staff and the scientists and soldiers who had been caught eating when the Portal had opened. Faith, as usual, was eating enough to replace the fuel used in the fight and then a little bit more. General Hammond and Dr. Fraser, taking their cue from Dawn and SG1 ignored her and concentrated on questioning Dawn.

"Those are the aliens that are trying to kill these girls?" General Hammond asked.

"They're not aliens; they're demons, as in from another dimension so bad people thought it was hell." Dawn explained. "Sunnydale sits right on top of a doorway we call a hellmouth. It opens up into a series of them and all of them are really bad. The Harbringers aren't really bad for demons, by that I mean they're strong but fairly easily killed by normal means as you saw. They worship an entity known as the First Evil. From what I've been told," she looked over at Faith, "I called Anya in New York to ask her if she'd heard of it before. The First is old and powerful, but it isn't as it likes to claim, the embodiment of pure evil."

"God, these things really need an ego reducer." Faith rolled her eyes.

Dawn nodded as she rescued a slice of apple from going up Mirriam's nose. Who had thought that apple pie was a good idea for a two year old?

"How did they get into the base?" Hammond asked.

"Through a Portal. We can send Elizabeth out here to ward the whole place against Portals if you want." Dawn offered.

"I think that would be wise, sir. If she could ward everything but the Gate room that is. We don't want anything interfering with that." Carter said.

Hammond nodded and turned to Dr. Fraser. "What are the casualties Doctor?"

"Well, the worst is Sergeant Miller; he landed in a pile of whipped cream and tore up the tendons and ligaments in his left leg. He's going to be out for months. He'll need surgery to fix the damage and then a few months of PT. The rest are assorted knife cuts, few of them serious, bumps, bruises, and the odd knock to the head, none of those are serious. If fact, aside from the Sergeant, I'd say we did very well. The worst of the cuts should be healed within a week or so. You might however, want Teal'c to add in watching for bad footing to his training routines." Fraser said with a smile. "Aside from the knife wounds, almost all of the damage was caused by food on the floor. The only thing I can think of was that these, demons, had never been in a food fight before." That brought a smile to everyone's face. It had been pretty startling.

Hammond turned back to Dawn. It was time to get to the question that had been bugging him for days now that his command was taken care of. "Why do these Harbringers want to kill these little girls?" He looked at the girls. They were adorable and reminded him of his own daughters and granddaughters.

"The existence of the Slayer is the only thing binding the First. It wants out of its bindings, so it has to end the Slayer line. In order to do that, the Harbringers have to kill every little girl who has the Potential to become a Slayer and only then will they try and kill the two current Slayers, Buffy and Faith."

At that point Faith's cell phone rang. It shouldn't have been able to get a signal this far down inside the mountain, but Willow had spelled all of their cell phones so that they would work no matter where on earth they were. They wouldn't work on the moon, as Dawn had discovered, but they would work anywhere on earth, or underneath it. "This is Faith, lay it on me sugar." Dawn rolled her eyes. Faith and Dean were sooo hormonal!

"I got good news and I got bad news. The good news is that Dad, Sam, and a lady from the Watcher's Council figured out a way to kill the First."

"You're right that's great news," Faith put her hand over her phone and turned to Dawn. "Your dad and Sam found a way to kill the First with some help from some lady from the Council. What's the bad news babe?"

"Well, first off the lady is dead. We gotta go looking for a special gun. It's an old Colt six shooter made by Samuel Colt himself. The real problem is that I've got a lot of contacts with guys who collect old guns and stuff like that and I can't go."

"Why can't you go looking for the gun?" That didn't make sense to Faith.

"Cause I promised you I wouldn't leave you and I don't want to break my promise."

"What you promised me was that you'd be there when I died! Are you saying that if you aren't around I'll die?!" Faith was suddenly breathing fire into the phone and there were sympathetic winces from the men around the table.

"NO! If you weren't able to take care of yourself I wouldn't be interested! I promise! I just didn't want to take off and leave you! Cause when I promised you I'd be there I meant that I wouldn't leave you at all! Really!"

"Ok, I guess I can understand that." Faith settled down. "Look, you are going to go and find a weapon that will take out the thing that wants me dead. I think that falls under good move. Also you called rather than just taking off which is even better. Just take some backup with you. I don't like the thought of you being out there by yourself."

"Xander and Spike volunteered to go and get it but they don't know what to look for. So I'll take them with me. Just promise me you'll be here when I get back Faith? I love you."

"I promise, lover. You'd better get on the road." Faith turned away from the table and whispered, "I love you too Dean." Then she hung up.

Dawn, Faith, the little Potentials and SG1 stood at the foot of the ramp leading up to the Stargate. Davis was in the control room calling out the chevrons as they were dialed. "Oh, it's a Portal!" Dawn sighed with a dreamy look on her face.

"Actually, it's a wormhole." Carter tried to explain.

"Dawn don't you dare mess with that!" Faith snapped.

"I'm just tasting it. It won't hurt anything." Dawn assured Faith. Faith wasn't so sure with the look on Dawn's face. The SG team that each had one of the little Potentials wasn't sure what to make of these two but they shrugged it off with the experience of a long time team. Weird was the normal way of life around here. When the surface of the wormhole had stabilized, SG8 led the little Potentials through the Gate to the Land of Light and the hopefully temporary home that was waiting for them there.

"Time to go Dawn Patrol." Faith said and her concern deepened as she watched Dawn, still with the dreamy look on her face, open a Portal straight to Faith's room at the mansion. It looked like they would be taking the short way back home. She shrugged, at least that would mean she would get Dawn to Elizabeth faster, and maybe she would get to give Dean a send off. She smiled as she waved to the people still in the Gate room and pulled Dawn into the Portal after her.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 21

Willow looked up from the box marked evil that she was about to pick up. "Someone opened a Portal inside the mansion!" She called out.

"Did they break the wards?" Elizabeth asked as she focused her own eyes on the wards she could see. There was no disruption that she could see.

"No, it must be Dawn!" Willow scrambled up and dashed off to where she could 'feel' Dawn. There was something wrong with her. Her magical signature was 'off' somehow. Everyone followed her. Faith met them at the door to her room.

"Elizabeth, Giles, Joyce, Buffy, John, Dean, Sam, and you!" she pointed at Jack. "The rest of you have to stay out here." She shut the door in their faces, but wasn't worried about it. She was too worried about Dawn. The people she had let in were crowed around her bed, staring at Dawn who was passed out in it. She still had that dreamy look on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Faith didn't know who had asked the question, it seemed to have come from everywhere at once.

"She said she 'tasted' that Stargate thingy. It's some kind of Portal according to Dawn."

"You mean she actually put her mouth on it?" Jack asked in horror.

"No numb nuts! She did it with her magic and now she's all stoned looking or something." Faith said waving at the look on Dawn's face.

Elizabeth took a good look at Dawn with her magic now that she knew this was magic related. "She's in a natural dream state." She said finally to everyone's relief. "There isn't anything harmful that I can see."

"What exactly is this Stargate thingy?" Buffy rounded on Jack.

Jack waved his hands. "Like Carter said, it's a wormhole. The Ancients, that's the same guys that put the plug on the hellmouth, which from your stories doesn't work too well, built a network of these round double circles that hold wormholes and put a bunch of them on different planets. They kind of work like a phone system, although if the system gets messed up it can send you into the past or it can send you to an alternate reality. But that's rare. Most of the time you dial up an address, it makes a wormhole and you walk through it and you're on another planet, where there's usually trees."

"Dude, you're talking about walking onto another planet and all you can say is there are usually trees?" Dean asked unbelievingly.

"What can I say? The scenery tends to be very boring." Jack shrugged. "The only time something exciting happens is if we run into hostile aliens. That does happen often enough that the job doesn't get boring though."

"What about the little Potentials Faith?" Buffy asked, ignoring the discussion between Dean and Jack.

"They got off all right, but we need to send Elizabeth over to Cheyenne Mountain so she can ward everything from the Gate room up. The Harbringers opened a Portal right into their cafeteria. You shoulda seen it B! These soldier guys and I guess some geek scientists were throwing food at the demons and the demons were so busy trying to block the food that only a few people got hurt at all. It was easy pickings. Oh, and guns work just fine on Harbringers."

"Was anyone seriously hurt?" Jack asked, worried.

"Only one guy, he slipped and fell in some whipped cream and tore up his leg. Doc says he'll be fine in a few months and T's gonna use him as an example of watching where you put your feet. I really wish I coulda spared with him, B. It turns out him and O'Neill train most of the hand to hand stuff on the base for the newbies." Faith shook her head mourning the lost opportunity.

Dean reached over and pulled her to his chest resting his chin on her head. "I'm sure it isn't the last time you'll see him. We'll just put off the sparing session with him until later. Now, seeing as how you're here, are you gonna help me pack for my trip?"

"Don't you mean give you a good send off?" She smirked.

A few hours later Spike was closely watching Willow spell the Impala's windows. "You sure this will work Red?"

"No problem, Spike. I got the spell from some Grekikkins as they were headed out of town. They traded the spell for some moving supplies. I already checked it out with a fledge, if he went up in flames no problem. But he didn't so, window spellage."

Spike nodded and made sure she was getting all of the windows. He didn't want to end up a pile of ashes in the backseat.

"Ok, we have a cooler for the blood selection of your choice. It also has pop inside so don't drink them." Xander held up a cooler over the Impala's hood so Spike could see. "We need to stop in LA if you want any human cause the shipments for the hospital have been downsized lately."

Spike nodded. He and Xander had stopped the weekly blood jacking in the hospital parking lot this week. He knew just how small the shipment had been. Stupid fledges always thought that the hospital blood delivery would be easy pickings.

"We also have peanut m'n'm's for Dean, Twinkies for yours truly, and an astonishingly wide selection of other snack items." He set the cooler and the two large bags in the back seat well. "Now, for the trunk; we have an even greater selection." Xander went on in his best game show host impersonation. He went around to the back and popped the trunk. "We have shot guns, crossbows, machetes, swords, daggers, knives, two gallons of holy water, a box of crosses, watch out of those Spike, six boxes of various ammunition, two tasers, and I'm not sure I want to know what those are for, exorcism books, and last but not least our bags full of clothes and other sundries."

"What no stakes?" Spike asked in amazement.

"Front seat." Xander replied.

"Faith done with Big Brother yet?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, he's just saying his goodbyes and getting his laptop from Sam. Apparently none of the Watcher types are going with us but they'll keep in touch through e-mail." Xander said as he joined Spike in watching Willow work.

"Why aren't any of them coming?" Spike wanted to know.

"Well, first of all most of us have responsibilities here that we can't get out of you know." Willow answered. "And I hate to say it but there was something said about being stuck in a car on a road trip with you three." There was no way they were going to get her to repeat that discussion. Although there was a general agreement to the tastiness of the men involved no one wanted to be stuck in the same car with those smart mouths for days on end.

"Here we go to find the Colt!" Dean sang to the tune of 'off to see the wizard' as he bounded in to the mansion's garage.

"All done Spike, I promise there will be no roasted vampire in this car!" Willow said cheerfully. She reached over and gave Xander a hug. "Be careful out there. We don't want to be short one Xander shaped friend! Spike, look after these two and bring them back in one piece. You don't want both Buffy and Faith mad at you and well, you're ok for a vampire so I sorta don't want to see you get staked either. Dean, good luck and take care of these two idiots, they may not be much but they're ours."

"No worries Red." came from Spike as he climbed into the back of the Impala. He stretched out length wise, using his duster as a pillow.

"Don't worry, Will. We'll be back with the Colt and ourselves in one piece, I promise." Xander said, giving her another hug before he got into the front seat.

Just then Sam appeared at the passenger side window and handed Xander a small package. "This is for when these two start blasting their music." He said. Xander opened the package to find a personal CD player with a noise proof headset. While Xander was laughing because he'd already heard at least one argument over who was better the Sex Pistols or Metalica between Dean and Spike, Sam went over to his brother and just said, "This is far too weird for me. Aren't you supposed to be the one who stays home and hunts with Dad?" Sam grabbed him brother in a big hug and said softly into his ear, "I'm going to miss you jerk."

Dean swallowed and whispered, "Bitch." He slapped his brother on the back and got into his baby. "Keep an eye on Faith for me." Then he started the car and drove off.

Willow chanted a blessing and then they both turned and walked back into the mansion.

Dawn woke up slowly and stared at the ceiling. What a rush that had been! But it wasn't the sort of rush that Giles or Willow had told her to expect from magic. No, this had been a rush of memory. The wonderful sensation of floating through the stars and watching the universe evolve. Wow, so that was what it had been like to be the Key, before she was born, created, whatever. She frowned at the stumbling block that thought had thrown into her line of thinking. The really weird thing was that becoming Dawn was better than just being the Key. The Key really didn't have any thoughts, it just was. With her soul had come thoughts and feelings and even more importantly, her family. OH GOSH! She sat straight up in bed and knocked her dad off the bed.

"Dawn? Are you ok?" Buffy asked. She had been on Dawn's other side. John just got up and sat back down on the bed. He wanted to know the answer to that question too.

"I'm fine. I just, kinda, ummm, got some memories unlocked I guess you could say." Dawn said, trying to figure out how she could explain this one. "It turns out that the Key wasn't, well a person or anything like that, but it was ummm, aware of stuff. When I touched the Stargate with my magic, it unlocked those memories. Now I kinda remember what the Key remembers, sorta. It's hard to explain." How could she explain the feeling of diving, (drifting?) through a star? Or the calmness of open space?

She looked at her parents who were silently waiting. "It was out in space, the same place where the wormhole goes. I could see the stars from the inside and the gas clouds and everything. It was," she flailed her arms around, careful this time not to knock anyone off. "I can't describe it. But do you know what the really weird thing is? Being alive here on earth is a thousand times better! It's richer or more colorful or I don't know. It just is."

John and Buffy smiled and hugged her from either side. "We're glad you're with us too Dawnie." John said and he kissed her head.

"Ok, what did I miss being out in la-la land." Dawn demanded.

"Well; Dean, Xander and Spike went to go look for the Colt. First we had to do a scrying spell and that at least got it pinned down to a section of the country but we couldn't narrow it down farther than that. Dean's got some ideas but he has to be closer before he can try them out." John said.

Buffy took up the narrative. "Faith said that the little Potentials got off world safely and told us about the small problem you had at the Mountain."

Dawn burst into giggles. "Oh man! If Harbringers could change their expression! They were sooo confused! The Stargate people were flinging pies and cakes and whatever they could grab! It was sooo funny! The Harbringers were so busy ducking and waving their knives at the flying food that they were easy targets for the soldiers and Faith." She demonstrated by waving her hand around and looking like someone had hit her on the back of the head with a board.

"S2 took care of the school patrol while you and Faith were gone and there was an infestation of gremlins in the boiler room and can I just ask why does a school in Southern California even have a boiler room? Well, Carlos of all people had the winning idea on how to take care of them, so it worked out. Faith is out on patrol right now and the rest of us are working on sorting the stuff that Ellen sent us. From what Elizabeth said most of it falls under very to extremely dangerous stuff. By the way it's about 4am in the morning if you want to know." Buffy said.

"Sorry I scared everyone. It was just such a rush of memories!" Dawn said and then yawned.

John chuckled. "We'll let you get back to sleep kiddo. Just try not to worry us like that again, ok?" After a round of hugs and kisses, Dawn fell back asleep safe in the knowledge that she was home.

They had been on their way to London, but that was before the Council building blew up. Now Sarah didn't know where they would go. She knew that some kind of demon had been killing Potentials like her for months now but her Watcher had told her that they would be safe in London. Now it looked like there wasn't any where safe at all.

Charles Grimes unlocked and un-warded his hotel room and slipped through the door, locking and replacing the ward behind him. Sarah, his Potential was pointing a crossbow at him and he nodded. They couldn't afford to make mistakes now. "I called Rupert Giles. He's the Senior Watcher in Sunnydale, California. That is the location of the strongest hellmouth."

Sarah nodded. She knew that from her studies. "It is where Buffy Summers lives. She died and was revived. So there are two Slayers now. She has lived and worked in Sunnydale for five years. She has stopped the apocalypse several times. The hellmouth calls to vampires and other demons and there is always a large population near a hellmouth."

Charles nodded. Sarah was always a quick study. "Both of the current Slayers, Buffy and Faith are in Sunnydale right now. Their Watchers have asked that all Potentials over the age of fourteen come to the hellmouth. There is a place they've directed the younger ones but that doesn't matter to us as you are fifteen. Although the hellmouth is the most dangerous place for anyone to be, I do believe it is also the safest for you right now."

Sarah simply nodded. It was hard for her. Although she had known all her life that she might have been called as a Slayer when she got old enough, there had always been this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that said it wouldn't happen to her. But now there really were demons out to kill her and it didn't matter to them if she was called or not. They just wanted her dead.

"We leave first thing in the morning."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 22

The Impala hummed along the highway, music blaring out of the speakers. The two men in the front seat were moving along with the music while the man in the back was buried in the computer in his lap. Dean had asked Xander to look up the biggest auction houses on the east coast. With Willow's taking control of the Council's accounts they could afford to buy the Colt outright if they were lucky enough to find it for sale. Sam had sent them a detailed drawing of the specific Colt that they were looking for so the auction houses were the first place they were checking. Dean of course had an ace up his sleeve, a former customer of his family who lived in Boston. They could stay with Father Donnally and Sister Kathrine while they were in there.

"Ok, there is the for sale stuff," Xander muttered to himself. He had the headphones that Sam had given him on and was doing his best to ignore the metal fest that was happening in the front seat. He didn't have the computer skills that either Willow or Sam had, but he did know enough to do a simple search. "There's some pretty neat stuff in here. I wonder if Giles would mind if we brought home a few presents." He reached up and smacked Spike on the head to get his attention.

Spike turned down the music and turned around in his seat. "What whelp?"

"Do you think Giles will let us bring back some other stuff if we get him some presents?" Xander asked and showed Spike the laptop's screen. On the screen was a pair of railroad spikes up for auction. Xander knew Spike had been missing his favorite weapons lately.

"Those are cheap enough that I don't think the Watcher'd mind. Course if we got some stuff for the Slayer and Faith and Joyce, oh and we can't forget the Nibblet." Spike stared off into space thinking about everyone that was now on his 'must get a present for list', how in the name of all that was evil had that happened?

"Yeah, you're right; it wouldn't be nice to show up with presents for some and not for everybody. Lots of swords and other stuff, not much in the way of guns with this one. Why are you looking at me with the 'you ruined my life' face?" Xander asked.

"My unlife sucks. I actually have to buy presents for two Slayers, several demon hunters, assorted witches, Watchers and Potential Slayers." Spike whined. "Can we at least make them gory and destructive type presents? Maybe something that will backfire on them or something?"

"Spike where is your sense of self-preservation? You know what would happen if we got them booby trapped presents! But the destructive idea would work for the Slayers at least. It depends on what we find." Xander said, knowing that it was just the vampire's angst talking and that his angst had really been taking a beating lately.

"You'd better not get my girl a booby trapped present Spike, or you won't be around long enough to give it to her, understood?" Dean asked in a conversational tone.

"Yeah, yeah, no wishing for the Slayers to get hurt," Spike said, sounding bored but actually hurt that Dean had thought he'd ever hurt any of the members of his nest.

"Here's one with guns." Xander said before Dean could reply. "Dean do you think your dad would like a genuine Winchester rifle? There are six Colts, all hand guns, no rifles; did Colt even make a rifle? Nevermind, it's the hand guns we want. From the pictures it looks like two of them are possible. They are both engraved, but I can't read it. The auction is tomorrow at ten. Think your friend can get us in?"

"No problem," Dean said and got on his cell to his contact.

"Mr. Howell, this is Dean Winchester. Yes, sir. My dad's doing just fine. The family is growing like a bad weed right now. Listen, I need a favor. I'm working with this group right now and there is a weapon we need to track down. It's an antique Colt. Legend has it Sam Colt himself made it for a Hunter. Yeah, our type of Hunter. This gun can kill anything and we've got an impossible to kill nasty we need to destroy. It's killing little girls Mr. Howell. Yes sir, we need to get it as quickly as possible. There is an auction going on tomorrow at ten at Master's Auction House. It has two Colts that are possibilities. Can you get," Spike smacked him in the shoulder and pointed at himself nodding. Dean nodded as well, "three of us into the auction? I have two of my associates with me. Uh huh. Alexander Harris and," he read off the note that Spike handed to him, "William LaSainger." He shot the vampire a WTF? look and then noticed Xander giggling in the back. He decided to figure that one out after he'd finished the call. "Thank you. Yes sir, we'll meet you there."

He shut his cell phone and said, "He'll meet us there and we need to be all formal like. The damned thing is a black tie and suits affair. I'm just grateful it isn't a tux dinner or something. Now what was that all about?"

"I made it through enough of the language classes at school and research to barely translate that name." Xander gasped through his giggles. "Actually I could only translate part of Sainger. I'm pretty sure it means blood or blood-like or something along those lines. That means that Spike gave you his other name to tell Mr. Howell. William the Bloody is the name Spike had before he took up his little hobby of torturing people with railroad spikes."

Dean turned a horrified look on Spike who just smiled. "What, no body told you about that? I had to live up to my line's reputation after all. We were the Scourge of Europe at the time. Those were the nights." He faded out with a look of nostalgia on his face.

"Don't mind him, he's just dreaming of his glory days when he could kill people." Xander said off handedly.

After a stop at a decent motel, and Dean was already beginning to appreciate the advantages of working with an expense account, the dressed up trio met Mr. Howell in the basement parking garage of the auction house. It turned out that Mr. Howell was a professional broker and was well known at many of the auction houses all over the States. "Can I see a picture of the Colt you boys are interested in? If we don't find it here I can get the word out that you are looking for it."

"Here," Dean said holding out the printouts that Sam had sent them.

"I see, an engraved Colt made in 1835 by Samuel Colt. The engraving is Latin?" He looked up. "This is going to make it easier to find. Few guns were engraved in anything other than English at the time. What is your spending limit?" He really didn't want to ask if they could pay for the gun even though he knew that John and Dean Winchester really didn't have much in the way of money. They had saved the life of his wife and if they couldn't cover the cost of the Colt, well then he would.

"Cost is no object for this particular item, Mr. Howell." Spike spoke. Dean and Xander were both shocked at the change in his accent. Then Xander remembered that before he was turned he had been one of those Victorian gentlemen. It wouldn't be hard for him to fall back into that accent. "We would however, prefer to keep the price under five million if at all possible."

Mr. Howell nodded. It was apparent that the Winchesters had joined up with someone who could afford to back up their work. That was good; it was about time that these men received some proper recompense for their work. He knew that silver bullets couldn't be cheap nor could special weapons such as the Colt they were looking for.

The auction itself was a rather tame affair as far as the young men were concerned; after all no one tried to kill anyone else for outbidding them. While neither of the Colts were the one they were looking for, they did manage to buy John the Winchester rifle that Xander had spotted before. It also established them as serious and picky customers as far as the auction house was concerned, the rifle having been bid on heavily. There was another auction a few hours later that Dean decided they should attend. The catalog showed it had a few things that would make a good present for Dawn for her birthday.

Buffy ran up the steps to her apartment and burst in. "She's gone and we've only got a few hours. Giles has her running errands out to Colorado and England. He told her that if she can get more accurate with her Portals he'll send her to pick up Potentials."

John turned from the kitchen table where he was wrapping Dawn's birthday present. "You know with everything that's been going on, I'm not sure she even remembers that today is her birthday."

"Creation day is what she's insisting on, at least with us since she wasn't born." Buffy said and set the cake down on the table. "Do we have enough ice cream?"

"Yep, your mom is getting the drinks and the girls are baking cookies. The package from Dean arrived in the mail and I'm wrapping the presents from Dean, Spike and Xander now. Wesley, Grace and Elizabeth are fixing up the dining room in the mansion. The boys are getting all of the plates, forks etc. I think we've got everything," John said.

"Oh don't say that!" Buffy smacked John on the shoulder, making sure not to hurt him. "You'll jinx us!"

"Buffy it can't be…"

Buffy swiftly covered his mouth. "This is the hellmouth and yes it can. You should really take a look at Giles' diary sometime. Or at least the parts of it he'll let you see. There are some things that will be off limits of course but the list is long and varied over the things that have and it's always very, very bad if someone actually says something along those lines. So don't even start, ok?"

John pulled her into his lap and held her close. He was beginning to see why she was so nervous at celebrations. Not that he believed she was cursed but the odds were against her. With all of the days in a year, most celebrations did tend to fall into her busy season.

"Dr. Jackson, you have a delivery at the entrance gate." A SF poked his head into Daniel's office.

"Thank you Sergeant." Daniel said and put his book down. He had turned most of his duties over to his staff so he could focus on this project. If he was lucky, Jonathan's friends had more on the seal or it was another young girl that needed to be sent to the Land of Light. He headed up to the gate and was glad to see that it was Dawn with a box.

"Hi Dawn. Are you feeling better?" He had noticed that she had been a bit out of it when she had left the Gate room.

"Oh there wasn't anything wrong with me. I just have a connection with Portals and I could follow the Stargate to where you were sending the little Potentials. That was some trip! We had a, ummm, shipment come to the mansion and these were in with the rest. There are some scrolls and a few tablets and a couple of books. All of them are about the hellmouths and such and on top is a video of the seal." She handed him the box.

"Thank you. I managed to get one of the off world seals translated. That should help shorten the translation time for this one." Daniel said. "The girls have settled in very well and we have had one of Ishta's female warriors teaching the older ones the Jaffa martial arts. None of us wanted their education to be neglected, but other than that we don't know what we should be teaching them."

"I'll ask Giles. He can send some basic demon texts for the girls to study. They need to learn the difference between the good, the bad and the just ugly that's in the Slayer's world." Dawn said. "That is one of the differences between the good Slayers and the ones who just blindly followed the kill all demons rule."

"Oh I know what you mean. Sometimes you really have to beat it into our recruits' heads that not all aliens are the same. Some of them believe that they are all bad, some that they are all misunderstood and all you have to do is try to understand them just like in Star Trek, and it really is hard to knock those attitudes out of people some times."

Dawn nodded and stepped back. "I'll see you later Dr. Jackson." And she disappeared.

She was exhausted by the time she got back to the mansion. She had made a delivery to Dr. Jackson and she had spent hours, popping back and forth from Giles' office in the mansion to the Watcher's Council's lawyers' office in London to the Inspector in charge of the bombing's building in Scotland Yard. "Here you go Giles; this is the last of the paperwork for you to sign. It is a good thing that the Council's employment records were in with the rest of the stuff we were sent. It was really easy for me to say that the current records went up with the building and here were the last records we had outside of there. So as far as the lawyer's are concerned, you, Wesley and Mr. Zabuto are the new senior board of the Watcher's Council as soon as the three of you sign these papers. Willow sent them a letter saying that our accounting branch had already taken care of making sure that our day to day operations wouldn't be disrupted."

"You've done an excellent job Dawn, thank you." Giles said and he took the folder that she was handing to him.

"There is one more thing, Giles. Here is a list of the recovered dead. I asked the Inspector if our branch could have a copy." Dawn held out the last sheet of paper.

"We'll look at that later. For right now, you my dear need to get some food and its waiting for you in the dinning room." Giles smiled and led her down to the dinning room.

"Happy Birthday!" rang out when she entered the room. Dawn stared in shock. She had forgotten all about her creation day with all of the work that had to be done. Soon she was sitting in the chair at the head of the table opening her presents. Giles, naturally, had gotten her a large book. What wasn't usual was that it wasn't on demons or ancient languages. It was a collection of true life mystery tales from England. Joyce had gotten her a teach yourself counted cross-stitching kit.

When Dawn looked at her grandmother in puzzlement, Joyce explained. "It has nothing to do with the supernatural, puzzle solving or learning in any way and it is a hobby you can take anywhere with you and you can work on it at any time. Susan said it is very relaxing and you like numbers."

"Oh, this is her 'do in the doctor's office' stuff!" Dawn exclaimed. She had been complaining of having to sit around and having nothing to do with short amounts of time lately.

John and Buffy had gotten her a book on advanced Latin and wonder of wonders, a set of keys to a small car. She was told that the car needed work, but it should be ready as soon as she got her permit. John would teach her how to drive but she had to work in the shop to cover her gas and insurance. Dawn readily agreed. She now had her own car! From Elizabeth, Willow and Tara had come a book on basic potions and the kit she would need to brew them. Spike had sent her a set of lock picks. Sam gave her a fully stocked first aid kit and a card that said she was enrolled into a first aid course over at the college.

Dean and Xander had strangely sent her a combined gift, the card informed her. She was to open Xander's first. She shrugged; Xander's was the biggest package so she didn't mind that. When she opened it she found an antique dollhouse. It was huge with three floors and covered a good portion of the table directly in front of her. Dean's package contained the doll to go with the house. The note that was in with the doll said that while she was far too old to be playing with dolls, she should have a doll on her first birthday, so they had gotten her an antique doll and it and the dollhouse had been checked out thoroughly for anything evil.

Wesley and Faith had each given her gift certificates to the mall, one for clothes and one for music. Grace and Amber had given her a crossbow and a set of bolts. Kit gave her a gift certificate for a spa day in LA and Carlos had given her a personal CD player. It was Jack's gift that got the most attention, mostly because no one could figure out just what it was. After much guessing, everything from a snake god artifact to a weird looking back massager, Jack told them it was a weapon called a zat. He took it and showed Dawn how it worked. "For humans one shot stuns, two shots kills and three shots disintegrates. I don't know what it would do to anything else, but I figured you'd like the stun gun aspect of it. And no I won't tell you how I got it, cause that would get some people in trouble." Everyone laughed at that and settled down for cake and ice cream and other assorted foods. All in all, Dawn decided, it had been a great day.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 23

Buffy sat with the list of recovered bodies in her hand. How could she have forgotten that Hank was in that building?

John walked into Giles' office intending to find Giles but finding Buffy in Giles' chair instead. "Buffy what's wrong?" he asked noticing the tears on her face.

"He was a terrible father and he was a skirt chaser and a workaholic and he didn't take care of my mom, but he was still my dad."

"Buffy?" John reached out and took the paper she was holding and read it. It was the list of recovered bodies from the Council building and there, about halfway down was the cause of her tears. Hank Summers was on the list. "Oh honey." John picked her up, sat down and put her on his lap. There was nothing he could say because everything she had said was true.

"I didn't want him dead! I just wanted him to understand and to not be a jerk." At this point Buffy completely broke down. John rocked her and rubbed her back. It took a while for the storm to pass but eventually Buffy was cried out. John picked her up and carried her over to the couch. There was a throw blanket on the back that he wrapped around her as he settled both of them on the couch. What he had wanted to talk to Giles about could wait, right now Buffy needed him.

When Willow poked her head in the office, John held his finger to his lips and gestured to the paper on Giles' desk. Willow went to the desk and picked up the paper. Willow bit her lip and took the paper with her. The others would need to know about this.

Willow walked down the hall and into the parlor. They had finally cleared out all of the items that the demon had transported from the Council vault and it was back to being used as a gathering and relaxing place for the Sunnydale crew. There was a corkboard on one wall that they used to post non-urgent messages and pictures and the like. She pinned the list to the board, that way anyone who wanted could look at it. After the lecture that Elizabeth had read her, she didn't think that this was something she should tell everyone but she still thought that they should be aware of the information. She knew that most of the people still here would read the list, if only to see who was on it and if there were any young girls found. They would see Hank's name and let Buffy bring it up if she wanted. At the very least they wouldn't be all cheerful around her and that was probably for the best. Willow didn't think Buffy could handle cheerful right now.

"Willow, could you and Tara teach Dawn about healing potions and stuff?" Sam asked as he hurried up to her. "The college cancelled the first aid course I signed her up for."

"Why did they do that?" Willow asked grateful for another subject to turn her mind to.

"Too many people dropped out of the course. Quite a few of the smaller classes of electives are being dropped and some of the smaller required courses are being combined next term. People are starting to leave the campus." Sam sighed, "I don't think it will be long before they start leaving in droves. As long as the hellmouth stays open, even just a little, even regular people are going to be feeling it."

"You're probably right. Sam?" Willow tried to control Sam's fall to the ground as he screamed, but he was far too large and it was too sudden for her to do much. The fact that he was clutching his head was the clue she needed to figure out that he was having a vision.

Sam pulled out his cell phone as soon as the vision let up enough for him to move. "Dean, Boston airport, customs, fifteen year old girl, blond hair, green eyes, blue jeans, hiking boots, blue sweater with a rose bush on the front, get to her now, Harbringers." He closed the cell phone and winced up at Willow who was hovering over him. "Got anything to kill a vision headache?"

Willow smiled and helped him off the floor and down to the kitchen where Tara quickly got him some water and heavy duty painkillers.

Dean shut his cell phone and swore. "Spike go meet with Mr. Howell inside, Xander and I have to go to the airport there's a Potential in danger over there." Spike nodded and jumped out of the Impala, thankful that there were so many underground and covered parking garages in Boston. Dean sped off toward the airport.

"Who are we looking for, where is she and who is after her as if I couldn't guess?" Xander said as Dean did his best to get quickly through the early morning traffic without attracting official attention.

"Sam said she was a fifteen year old blond with green eyes, hiking boots, blue jeans and a blue sweater with a rose bush on the front. She's in or going to be in the customs area of the Boston airport and of course the Harbringers are after her." Dean grimaced. How were they going to get guns into the airport? Duh, dude, you've been working with these goody goodies too long. "Xander, pull out the wood box out of the glove box."

Xander followed the instructions to find that the little box was full of fake ids. "Well, well what do we have here? You do know that it's illegal to have these ids don't you Mr. Winchester?" Xander teased in a sing song voice.

"Yes I do Mr. Smartass. Give me one that'll get us into the airport with guns, FBI or something like that. Federal is always better in this kind of situation, remember we're not going to be dealing with Sunnydale cops out here. These guys are generally competent professionals."

"So how do we get my weapons in there?" Xander asked.

"Simple, you won't be carrying a gun. Take a bag and fill it with some stakes that stone knife, that sort of thing, stuff that will get through the metal detectors and take your antiquities id with you, the one that Sam made for you. That will show you have reason to by carrying antiques." Dean said, pulling into the parking lot closest to the doors of the airport. "Thank goodness we already dressed up for that auction we don't have time to change now."

Getting out of the car, Xander quickly unloaded everything off of his person that could get him into trouble with security and loaded up a gym bag with all of the weapons that he could find that would qualify as an antique. It turned out that they had quite a few but he only took the ones that would be useful against a Harbringer. There was no sense in bringing anything else. Then he followed Dean into the airport. By not being to close together, they managed to get through security with ease, although Xander had a much harder time of it. The explanation that he was bringing some antiques to be looked at by an appraiser had made sense to the guard and that was all that Xander cared about.

They found her going through customs in the company of an elderly man. They didn't know who he was, but they guessed that he was her Watcher. It didn't help that as soon as the two stepped out of sight of the custom agents and the line of people waiting to get through that the elderly man was grabbed and pulled into a doorway. If Dean and Xander hadn't been watching and waiting for them, they wouldn't have seen the old man taken. "Get the girl!" Dean yelled at Xander and went after the old man.

Xander grabbed the girl and pulled her away despite her struggles. "I'm not with the Harbringers!" Xander whispered/shouted in her ear. "Our seer sent us to make sure they didn't get you! He didn't say anything about the old man but Dean will do his best to get him back. Are you all right?"

Sarah stopped struggling when he told her he'd been sent by a seer. Her Watcher had told her that Buffy Summers had recently begun working with a seer and that seer had prevented the murder of another Potential and her Watcher. Could this have been how that had happened? Some strangers just showing up to save them? How she wished now that she had some of the Slayer's powers, at least the ability to tell if this man was a demon or not!

Xander sighed in relief as the girl relaxed. The last thing he needed was for a security guard to think he was kidnapping the poor girl. "Ok, lets find us a nice loud and very public spot to have this conversation." He said. The girl looked at him in surprise. "What did you think I was going to carry you off and have my wicked way with you? Dean would kill me and then have one of the witches, Willow or Dawn probably or maybe all of them resurrect or maybe zombiefy me so the others could have a chance to bludgeon me into tiny pieces. Nope, there is no way I could do that and get away with it and the only thing Spike would do is hurt himself laughing at me and to top it all off, you're way too young for my tastes, so I guess we'll just go where the Harbringers won't go after you and wait for Dean. What do you think about that?" Xander asked as he led the new Potential off to a group of chairs right next to a very busy corridor.

"My name is Xander and I work with Buffy Summers in Sunnydale normally. Right now, Dean, Spike and I are off on a wild weapon chase and Sam, that's Dean's brother and one of our two seers, sent us here to make sure that you didn't end up Harbringer chow. What about you?" Xander asked.

"My name is Sarah, I'm fifteen and a Potential Slayer. The man who was grabbed is my Watcher. We were headed for London but," Sarah said.

Xander interrupted her. "Yeah, we saw the news coverage about the bombing. We also got a delivery from one of the, well I'm not sure you could call her a survivor, but she made it through the bombing itself. She died soon after though. She used magic and sent us the contents of one of the vaults over at the Council's headquarters. There was a lot of stuff in there that really shouldn't get into the wrong hands."

Just then Dean came marching up. "Let's go." He said shortly, obviously upset over something. Xander stood up and tugged Sarah to her feet. They silently followed him out to the Impala and Xander waited until they were back on the road before asking.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah, and Caleb too," Dean shuddered at the memory of Caleb's body laughing at him through a slit throat. The dead man had not only been a friend for years, he had been a mentor and honorary uncle nearly all of his life. This news was going to hit his family hard. "When we get back to the auction house, I'm going to call home and have Dawn come out here and pick up me and the girl. I need to tell Dad and Sam myself. Do you think you and Spike can stay here by yourselves for a while?"

"No problem."

Spike was bored. He knew that this was important but there was only so much time without violence that he could take. Maybe he could talk Xander into playing bait on a quick Patrol around Boston tonight? If nothing else he could take his nummy treat out to a bar and defend him from the demon chicks that hit on him. Spike shook himself out of his daydream of beating up a Roklak demoness over Xander's prone body when Mr. Howell came over to him.

"There are five possibilities I've managed to find record of. There are three I've tracked down. One is here at the auction and one is in a private collection in San Francisco,"

"It's not the one in San Francisco." Spike interrupted calmly. He knew he needed to keep up the gentleman persona that Mr. Howell was seeing, but it made him want to kill something just that much more. It reminded him too much of William. "One of our Witches narrowed it down to the East Coast area."

Mr. Howell didn't know what to say to that but he supposed it was as normal as anything else in their line of work. It would make his efforts to track the gun down easier. "The last is in a collection in one of the museums in New York City. It isn't on display, but I've managed to get you a look at that Colt tomorrow. I've also managed to get an early viewing of the Colt here, Mr. LaSainger. If you'll come this way?"

Spike nodded and followed the broker to a smaller room where a display had been set up. The Colt rested in a wooden case lined with velvet and there were spaces for bullets to rest. So far so good, Spike thought to himself. He pulled out a pair of granny glasses and slid them on his face. He hated them, but the only way for him to read without them was to change and he knew that wouldn't be a good idea. Freaking out the people who were helping them would be fun, but more trouble than it was worth. He'd have more than just a couple of pissed off Hunters on his ass if he screwed this up on purpose, especially over his vanity.

He carefully examined the Colt, deliberately ignoring the pounding heartbeats of the humans standing behind the display. He knew that if this was the gun he was looking for they would have made an incredible sale and their excitement was going through the roof. It wouldn't make any difference though. Although the engraving wasn't in English, it wasn't Latin either. "I'm terribly sorry, lady and gentleman, but this is not the specific Colt that my employer is looking for. While it is of the same time period, the engraving is in Greek rather than Latin. I thank you for your indulgence. If you could send a copy of your catalog for future auctions to this address, my employer would be most grateful. While currently he is interested only in a specific Colt, I have seen several items today that he would most likely be interested in." Bowing shortly, he left the room with Mr. Howell in tow.

"At what time can an inspection of the museum Colt be arranged, Mr. Howell?" Spike asked.

"The earliest time would be at eleven o'clock, Mr. LaSainger. I have the name of the museum, the address, the directions from the hi-way as I do remember that Dean never could be parted with his car, the name of the director in charge of the Colt and the name of the curator of the museum. If this is the Colt you are interested in, the curator is expecting a purchase price of about two million." Mr. Howell handed over a file folder.

"That is well within what we have asked of you Mr. Howell. Thank you for the time and effort you have put into our project." Spike said. He really did appreciate the work the man had done. They had only asked him to get them into the first auction; he had done far more than that.

"I'm well aware of the work that the Winchesters do Mr. LaSainger, and I'm very glad that they are getting the backing that they deserve. I will call Dean's number with the exact time of the appointment as soon as I've arranged it." He didn't bother to mention that the little shopping spree that the three young men had gone on had cemented their reputations as serious collectors and that it had boosted his reputation as well.

Spike shook his hand and left for the parking garage, pulling out his cell phone as he did so. He hoped that Dean was done with the business of getting the Potential out of danger cause there was no way he could get a cab back to their hotel room.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 24

When the Impala pulled up in front of Spike in the parking garage he could see a teenaged girl in the back of the car. Realizing that no one else was in the car Spike quickly got into the backseat next to her. "Watcher didn't make it?" he asked. Dean shook his head. He really wasn't up to talking about it yet.

"Oh well, this Colt wasn't the one we wanted either. Howell's going to call you with the information we need for our inspection for another one in New York in the," he quickly glanced at the folder in his hands, "New York City Police Museum. Apparently they got the Colt in with a shipment of other guns and are willing to sell it to us if we want it. The trouble is we have to be there in New York tomorrow morning. How are we going to get the kid to Sunnyhell?"

He looked up to see Xander grinning at him. "Oh, no! I've been good about letting you blokes shove me into this bloody suit, I am not going to baby sit! That is completely undignified for a demon and I won't do it!" Xander just gave a bad imitation of a maniacal laugh. Spike slumped against his door muttering about how unfair it was that he should be stuck with the likes of Xander.

"Tell you what Spike, after we hit New York, you and Xander can have a night out, alright?" Dean said. He really wasn't up to Xander and Spike's usual bantering. Babysitting sounded good to him, it would give him a chance to get his head on straight about Caleb and if the girl wanted to know about her Watcher it was best that he tell her in private.

After going to their hotel and changing their clothes they hit the road for New York. Dean had called Sunnydale to let Sam know that the Potential was safe and would be staying with them until they hit New York. He also told him about Caleb. When they got to a hotel, Dawn could come and pick up the girl. "My name is Sarah."

"Hi Sarah, I'm Dean. You've already met Xander and the guy beside you is Spike." Dean said after hanging up.

"You guys sure look different out of those suits." Sarah said. She still wasn't sure about these men. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew Buffy Summers worked with demons on occasion, a tidbit that her Watcher had tried to hide from her, she would have been freaking right about now. "Umm, if you don't mind, what kind of demon are you?" She asked Spike.

Spike grinned. "I'm a vampire luv."

"Are you like Buffy Summers' friend Angel?" Sarah asked faintly.

"Don't worry about Spike, Sarah." Xander said firmly. "He has a military modification chip in his head. He can't hurt humans anymore. He's hell on wheels with other demons though."

The three men settled in for the long drive, Spike and Xander bantering with each other and keeping Dean and Sarah amused with their antics.

Sam sat on the bench watching the other students stream by. It didn't seem possible that Caleb was dead. He had been a part of his family for as long as he could remember. What was worse was that Dean had said that something was using his body and ordering Harbringers around. There was only one thing that could order one of those around and that was the First. How could Caleb have run across the First, and why would the Harbringers sacrifice him to it?

"Hey Sam, how are things going?" Aphra sat down next to her classmate and fellow medic for those who fight the dark.

"Lousy, my family has been in this business for as long as I can remember. We've lost friends before, but they've always been the ones on the front lines like us. They were Hunters, not support personnel." He looked at the sympathetic girl beside him. If anyone even halfway normal would be able to understand, it would be her. She'd been born and raised in Sunnydale after all.

"We just found out that Caleb, he's…he was our weapons supplier, has been killed and taken over by the First. It's a very old demon who has been having its minions kill all of the Potential Slayers that it can find. We've managed to save a few, but not very many. That's how Dean found out about Caleb. We've known for a while that he was missing, but for this to happen."

Aphra put her arm around Sam's waist and held him. It was the only thing she could do. Unfortunately, as she well knew from experience, it was the only thing anyone could do.

Dawn wasn't sure she wanted to go back to New York. The last time she had ended up shooting a cop. It had only been a matter of bad timing, there were no permanent injuries and no charges were pressed on either side, but it wasn't a fond memory. On the other hand, everyone at home was far too upset to be hanging around lately. Without fail, every time people got together, if they weren't patrolling, they fell into depression. So many innocent and not so innocent lives had been destroyed by the Harbringers. That Caleb had not only been killed, but had his body turned into something that was being used by the enemy somehow, had devastated her father and brother. She wasn't sure how Dean was holding up. She opened a Portal to where she could 'feel' where her oldest brother was. She was getting better at finding people over long distances, at least if she was close to them.

She stepped through the Portal and into a motel room with two queen sized beds. She found Dean leaning against one headboard pointing a shotgun at her and Spike and Xander standing in front of a girl who looked to be just a little older than she was. "Hi guys." She said. She wasn't up to trying to be perky.

"Hey Dawn Patrol," Dean said and after setting his shotgun down, hugged his little sister. "Ok, guys, Dawnie's here so get lost. Have fun and come back in one piece, we've got to be at the museum at 10 o'clock tomorrow."

"Sir, yes sir!" Xander snarked and gave an insolent salute. Spike just gave him a two fingered salute and followed Xander out the door. "So where do you think we should go to have some fun in the big apple?"

"Well, since I doubt I can convince you to play bait for me, patrolling is out. How about we hit a bar, play some pool?"

"Only if you promise not to get into a kitten poker game. We have to check out the gun in the morning and I don't want to have to haul you out of trouble tonight."

"OY! Who says I'm the one that's getting into trouble tonight? You're the demon magnet, mate!" The sounds of their snarking at each other faded as they headed down the hall.

"As you've probably figured out, I'm Dawn. Dean's my big brother and the two jokers out there are my honorary uncles. Are you a Watcher raised Potential or did you just find out about what goes bump in the night?" Dawn asked, settling in for a long talk. It would be nice to have a talk with someone who wasn't a walking waterworks waiting to happen.

Detective Elliot Stabler was a good cop and like all good cops he hated it when children were the victims of terrible crimes. This crime scene was going to be a doozy. According to the uniforms that had responded to the call they had found a group of men with mutilated faces wearing robes trying to knife a family to death. There were three others at the scene that the family indicated had broken into their home and defended them against the nutcases. That was why SVU had been called in; they had the most experience with religious fanatics. "Officer Jensen, I'm Detective Stabler and this is Detective Benson. What can you tell us?"

"There's a family of five, father, mother, two sons and daughter. They were sitting down to a family game night when these nut cases in brown robes broke in and started killing the family. The father and one of the sons are dead. The mother has a bad knife wound but the paramedics have her patched up and she refuses to go to the hospital. She says that just as her son was killed a young man accompanied by two teenaged girls came through the broken front door and started shooting the guys in the robes. The older girl was armed with a crossbow and the other two were armed with shotguns. The one with the crossbow pinned one of the guys in the robes to the wall. All of the guys in robes are dead. I was here for the end of the fight. The weirdoes weren't giving up, not even when they were dropping like flies. Damned if I know what to make of it Detective."

"Hey Elliot, guess what? One of the girls is your little playmate." Liv teased from where she had peeked into the doorway to the living room. "How are your ribs?"

Stabler hung his head. "You are never going to let me live that down are you?" Liv just shook her head and grinned at her partner. Only Elliot would have the bad luck to accidentally walk in on an armed teenaged girl getting dressed. She had shot him, but due to the fact that the shotgun she had was loaded with rock salt, the only lasting effect was a lot of bruising, that and the teasing from their fellow cops.

"Miss Winchester, a pleasure to see you again." Stabler said as he entered the room. Dean shot Dawn a look; this must be one of the cops she and Dad had run into when they took that trip for Giles a few weeks ago.

"Hello Detective Stabler, how are your ribs?" Dawn asked cheekily.

Dean was immediately in Stabler's face. "That was you?" he growled.

"Hey, accident and bad timing, big brother, nobody was really hurt and no charges were pressed, so water under dam, ok?" Dawn said, deliberately mangling the phrase as she dragged Dean back from the cop. The last thing they needed was more trouble from Dean's mouth. She could get away with the teasing as she was just a kid. Dean would probably end up in jail, again.

"Water under the bridge, Dawn Patrol and you've been spending way too much time with people who mangle the English language." Dean shook his head. He knew Dawn was trying to distract him, but he wasn't happy with the incident and wasn't about to hide the fact.

"Yes that was me and I'm going to assume that you are one of Miss Winchester's older brothers?" Stabler asked. From the way the young man's eyes had blazed it was a safe bet.

"That's right, and this is Sarah." Dean said, backing down slightly.

"Ok, as Dawn already told you, I'm Detective Stabler. My partner over there, talking to the family is Detective Benson. Now, why are the three of you here and why are you armed and shooting the dead guys?"

Both Dawn and Sarah looked at Dean. It would be up to him to give the detective a cover story. They hadn't planned on needing one, but the cops had shown up before they could finish rescuing the 'lost' Potential that the Harbringers were targeting. "Well," Dean started when the Harbringers began to melt, and not in a pretty or neat fashion.

"Ewww!" Dawn huffed. "Why couldn't they be a little neater if they were going to go poof?"

Everyone (the mother, son and daughter of the family, the two detectives, and the patrolman who was at the door) looked at her like they couldn't believe that was her only reaction to a mess of dead bodies melting into a large puddle of goo. "Don't worry, the mess will disappear soon enough, it just takes a while." Dean said. "We were here to make sure that they didn't kill the little girl. That's who they were after. These are the same guys who pulled off that bombing in London last week."

"How did you know and why are the bodies doing that?" Stabler asked.

"My family is psychic." Dawn piped up. "Dad and Sam have premonitions and visions and Dean here gets impressions from things he touches. As far as why these guys are going all goopy, well that's classified information." Dean looked at Dawn. Dawn shrugged and handed Stabler a card with a number on it. "That number is for the people who are dealing with this group of terrorists."

"Dawn!" Dean said. He couldn't believe she was trying to scam the cops here.

"It's the number for Col. O'Neill." Dawn explained.

Dean chuckled at the thought of unloading this problem onto the senior Jack. "Why were they trying to kill my daughter?" The mother exclaimed.

"Because she will grow up to be a danger to them if she survives," Dean said flatly. "The information on why is classified, but we have a way to get her and the two of you to safety. You'll have the situation explained to you there. Detective, write this up any way you want after you call that number. They're all dead but we have to get the three of them to a safe place before more come for the girl." Dean said. He gave his sister a look and pulled both detectives out into the hall way with the patrol officer. "I don't know how you are going to deal with this and quite frankly, I don't care because I've got a hell of a lot on my plate right now. That little girl and her family aren't the only ones in danger."

Benson looked back into the room to check on their victims, only to find that the room was completely empty. "Elliot!" She yelled and ran back into the room. The corpses were all gone and so were the survivors. There hadn't been enough time for them to have gone anywhere.

"Where did they go?" Stabler demanded.

"I told you, that's classified. But if you are asking how, my sister took them to where they will be safe. All three of them will get good medical care. If you want to hang around with me until someone gets back to you on that number Dawn gave you that's fine with me. Oh and if you're going to run me through the system, you're going to find that I'm listed as a serial killer who's dead and buried in St. Louis." He shrugged at the looks on their faces. "Hazards of the job; the guy stole my identity and I'm still trying to get it back."

It was decided that Dean would go with the detectives while they did their paperwork and called the number that Dawn had given them. Stabler and Benson were more than happy to dump dealing with this group of feds into their captain's lap. After doing so they left the station and followed Dean to a seedy little bar where Xander had said they could meet after Dean had called him. Dean wasn't expecting to walk into a brawl, but considering the last 24 hours he really shouldn't have been surprised.

They found Spike standing over a fallen Xander, laughing his head off and punching anything that got close. Anything being the operative term as this was a demon bar and no one was even attempting to look human. Dean shoved Stabler and Benson against the wall and stood in front of them to make sure that they weren't hurt by the brawlers. He'd worry about their introduction to the night life after making sure that they survived it. He glanced over at Spike who was enjoying himself. He knew they hadn't had any time for fighting lately, but they needed to get out of here. "Spike! Grab Xander and get over here!" He yelled. Giggling the vampire threw the larger man over his shoulder and fought his way to the door. "Let's go." Dean said and followed Spike out of the bar.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 25

Dean took every one back to the motel room and briskly looked Xander over. He was already coming around and it looked like he'd had a good knock to the head. "How's your vision?" He asked.

"No concussion, I can see just fine and I don't have any nausea or anything. Where is he?!" Xander snarled. When he got his hands on that bleached menace!

"What happened?" Dean asked as he ran a quick check over the rest of Xander, looking for other injuries.

"That neutered, fangless, piss poor excuse for a master vampire dragged me into a demon bar!" Xander began only to be interrupted by Spike.

"I told you I wanted a decent drink of fresh blood. Where the hell else am I supposed to get any? You know demon bars have donors in the back who get paid to bleed for the customers." Spike protested. "And I suppose it is my fault that you got mixed up in a domestic dispute between a pair of demonesses? I tried to get you out of it by telling them we were mated; but no, you had to go and tell me to shut up about it." Spike tried to pout but he was feeling too good after the brawl.

"Spike you told them that the only one who was going to eat me was you!" Xander tried to yell but his head was hurting too bad.

"So? It's true. One of these days I am going to eat you and maybe I'll even turn you. No one's going to get the chance before I do!" Spike said in a huff. "You said it yourself. You're my nummy treat and one day I intend to collect."

"They weren't talking about that Spike!" Xander yelled.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that Xan." Spike said with a grin.

"Argggh!" Xander said and lay back down on the queen sized bed.

"So your dating curse hit again?" Dean grinned. "Although Spike, I do agree. Taking a demon magnet into a demon bar isn't too good of an idea."

"I told him I was going in. It was his idea to follow me." Spike said in as innocent a voice as he could manage. Too bad no one was buying it.

"Spike, you know the rules. No one goes any where alone, especially at night. You know perfectly well that Xander wasn't about to let you go into a dangerous situation," Dean held up his hand as Spike started to protest, "A dangerous situation alone. Right now we're too far from backup and I could have used the two of you tonight. I had to go in with Dawn and Sarah as my backup."

"Where are they?" Spike growled. If his little platelet had gotten hurt.

"They had to go to Cheyenne Mountain and then they went back to Sunnyhell. We had to stop a Harbringer attack here in New York tonight. Now that most of the Potentials with Watchers are dead the ones that would have been lost are showing up better. She was six years old and she just lost her dad and older brother to Harbringers. Her mother survived and so did her other brother, but they were all hurt. They're in the infirmary at the Mountain now."

"Nibblet's ok?" Spike said more calmly. Dean nodded. He knew that was the only thing the vampire cared about.

"Where do those two come in?" Xander asked pointing to the shell shocked cops sitting on the other bed, which incidentally was the one farthest from the door.

Dean sighed. "This has turned into a really crappy day. First there was rescuing Sarah and losing her Watcher, then finding out Caleb wasn't just running away from his feelings for Betsy, then I let you two go off to blow off a little steam. Dad calls me with another Potential in danger and I can't call you because someone turned their phones off," he glared at both of them. They both shrugged. They had needed time away from the hunt for the Colt and had both been bound and determined to let off steam. Xander just hadn't planned on getting trounced in a demon bar.

"So I had to take Dawn and Sarah, both of whom have just lost someone from the fatherhood role, even if Hank wasn't really Dawn's and Charles was Sarah's Watcher not her dad, into a 'save the kid before she gets killed for something she knows nothing about' situation. Then to make things just a little bit more complicated, someone called the cops and guess what? They actually showed up and did their jobs!

"f the mom hadn't said that we were defending them, I'd probably be in jail right now and the girls would be with Social Services or something. Then these two detectives showed up and guess what? These two are the cops that ran into Dad and Dawn last October! By now the Harbringers started going goopy and Dawn sends them to O'Neill cause he can get away with saying 'classified, shut the hell up' but until he does, these two are stuck with me for the night. So what do I do? I try to track down my two buddies so I'm not breaking the rules cause if I did Faith would hand me my ass, and I find the two of you in the middle of a brawl in a demon bar." Dean looked at the two who were sheepishly ducking their heads.

"We've got a ten o'clock appointment at the Police Museum tomorrow morning. Xander, you stay here. Your face looks like you went ten rounds with Mike Tyson using your face instead of your fists. There is no way we can take you. Since you are out of commission, you can deal with telling the nice detectives all about what the hell has been going on all night long while I take a shower to get rid of the demon blood all over me!" With that, Dean glared at both of his friends, grabbed his duffle and stalked off to the bathroom. It really had been a lousy night.

"Spike, when I say you can't use me as bait, I mean you can't use me as bait. Don't try to deny it! You knew perfectly well what would happen if you took me into a demon bar and you did exactly what you needed to get me in there. You want to hunt, fine. You want to brawl, fine. Just don't get me mixed up in it. All I wanted was to have a night off. You give the cops the 411." With that Xander rolled over and tried to go to sleep.

Spike refused to feel guilty. He did, he really did refuse to feel guilty. He was completely ignoring the urge to apologize to Xander. He looked at the cops. "Right, it looks like I'm the one who's got to fill you in. First off, like the whelp said, I'm a vampire. Here," he took each of their hands and placed them where both cops could feel the fact that he had no pulse. He then slowly slid into game face. "Now, ghosties and ghoulies really exist. I'm one of them. This lot," Spike waved his hand at Xander and the bathroom door. "They keep the kiddies and the nice normal human type people safe from them. Sometimes they even keep the demons safe from the humans. Depends on the circumstances, but they're the white hats." He slid back out of game face.

"Now about tonight, well Harbringers are a kind of demon and they are killing off a lot of little girls and they don't care who gets in the way. They worship this big bad demon called the First. It wants to bring hell to earth and in the process destroy everything good about what you humans have built over the centuries. I like this world the way it is for the most part. There are a few things I'd change but then who wouldn't?

"By killing all of these little girls it gets to do what it wants because those little girls are tagged by the Powers That Be to be Champions for the good. By killing them off before they are called and they get their powers as a Slayer they have a lot easier time of it and they figure that if they can kill all of the little girls there won't be anyone to be called when the current Slayers die. The Slayer is the only thing standing in between the First and hell on earth.

"As for the bar, well, I was bored," Spike shrugged and sat down on the bed next to Xander after releasing their hands. "The quickest way to get into a fight without getting into trouble around here is to rescue him," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Xander.

"So you admit it then?" came from Xander.

"Course I admit it! I'm not stupid you know. I just get bored easy. You lot have had me playing William for days and days now, keeping me up at all hours of the day I'll add, and not once have I had a single fight! Violence is as necessary as blood for a vampire you know! I was starting to daydream while I was looking at all those antiques about painting the room with the human's blood in spite of how much it would hurt or at least using you as bait for a good hunt or brawl. I couldn't take much more of it."

"I have no idea how you manage to do that." Xander said.

"What?" Spike looked at Xander warily.

"Make me feel guilty even when you are the one who did something wrong." Xander sat back up. "Look, tomorrow you'll go and look at the latest Colt and then you can come back here and sleep. I won't play bait for you, but I will make sure that somehow you get a good bout of violence tomorrow night, ok?" Spike just nodded. He still couldn't get used to being with the white hats sometimes. Who knew that Xander would actually care whether or not he got his nightly amount of violence?

Just then Dean walked out of the bathroom in clean sweats and a t-shirt. "Are they always like this?" Benson asked him.

Dean didn't have to ask her what she meant. He had hung around both Spike and Xander long enough to know what she was talking about. Those two couldn't be in the same room for five minutes with each other without their mouths going off. "Pretty much," he said and made a show of crashing on the side of the bed closest to the door.

"Hey," Xander said and shoved him closer to the edge. "Wounded here, I didn't need to be jostled!"

Stabler and Benson watched in amazement as the two proceeded to completely ignore their presence and go to sleep.

Daniel Jackson was exhausted. He had been up for what seemed like days and for all he knew actually had been. But the knowledge that two more girls had been targeted and one family had been severely attacked, leaving two dead meant that there was no way he was going to stop now. He was close to solving one of the mysteries that would save the lives of little girls all over his own planet. There was just one more word. He bent down over his books and was too tired to even begin to jump when Nyan ran into his office.

"I found it! I found it!" Nyan said excitedly. He waved the paper he was holding at Daniel. "They are talking about a bylnith! See, here is a picture of one. The closest translation in English would be scythe. It is a special weapon made for women and older girls. Take a look!"

Daniel sighed in relief. "That's it Nyan. I'll call Jonathan as soon as I've had some sleep. I won't make any sense in my condition right now. Can you organize this mess into something that makes sense? I'll be back in a few hours."

"No problem Daniel. I'm glad to be able to help the people of this world as you have helped me. It is very satisfying to help others out in the galaxy, but to help the Tauri themselves is something that is truly special."

Several hours later after a shower and a meal, Daniel was ready to look at the neat report that Nyan had made out of his scattered notes. "Well for once the instructions seem to be rather straight forward," he muttered. He phoned General Hammond and told him he was finished with his translation and was going to inform the group at Sunnydale. After receiving permission he sent the e-mail to Jonathan and waited patiently for a response. The one he received was rather what he had come to expect from the Sunnydale group. They used a Portal and came directly into the Gate room.

After gathering in one of the conference rooms Daniel laid his translation out. "Basically it goes like this. From beneath you it will devour, beneath you is where it will end. To open the gateway to hell, spill the blood of the protectors. To close the gateway to hell, spill the blood of the guardians. For each gateway there must be one guardian, to call the guardians use the scythe. Beware the closing of the gateway for it will devour all that surrounds it." Daniel looked up from his notes. "What that means is that you have to somehow call seven Slayers with the scythe, spill some of their blood on the seal and then get as far away from the seal as possible because a large portion of the town if not most of the surrounding area will be destroyed when you close down the gateway."

"Easier said than done," Buffy Summers said blankly.

They didn't have any Potentials to watch over but they were still Watchers and she was bound and determined that they would rise to the occasion and take a stand with the Slayer. That meant that they had to get to Sunnydale and report to whoever was in charge over there. She held the key to the pocket dimension where the most valuable of the research books were kept, some of them only had one copy in all the world.

Others held other keys to other dimensions, where the Council had kept maps and weapons and most important of all the copy of every diary of every Watcher who had ever led a Slayer. There were the working copies of course, but the first copy was always sent to one of the pocket dimensions so they would never be lost. There were advantages to working for an organization that had been founded by a librarian after all. They remembered what happened in the aftermath of disaster and at least tried to prepare for it.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 26

It was going to come down to researching Sam and Willow decided. There was no way to figure out how to 'call' seven Slayers at once with the scythe without research. Of course they could do it the hard way, but no one wanted to kill Faith and it wasn't certain that the next Slayer called would be one of the girls in Sunnydale. That being the case, Sam and Willow hit the books. Passing on patrol wasn't easy of course, but they laid it out to the others, no ritual spell, no certainty of calling the Potentials that were here, and the hellmouth might still go boom.

While everyone else was doing their best to A) get people to move out of town or B) make sure those who were still in town survived the night, Willow had set up shop in the mansion's library. Thanks to Dr. Jackson she had copies of everything she needed to cross reference the seal with the books, scrolls and diaries that had survived the destruction of the Council's headquarters. She also had school work to do, but it was almost Christmas break so as soon as finals were over she could really get cracking. Plus she had the sneaking suspicion that after finals there wouldn't be a UC Sunnydale to go to.

All four of the college students had arranged for to be transferred to different colleges. Sam had decided after a long and difficult talk with his dad to transfer to LA's branch of the University of California. That way he wouldn't really be transferring schools, just towns. Plus he would still have family nearby. Dr. Sloan had offered to have him live with them while he attended school. She and Tara had decided to transfer to Harvard in Boston. They didn't like the idea of leaving their friends, but Harvard was the only school that both of them could attend. Tara was going to take the business program there and Willow had decided to attend MIT. With the Scooby College fund, as they jokingly called it, money wasn't a problem. Both of them planned to take positions in the new Watcher's Council as soon as they graduated. Buffy of course, was going to Cleveland. With a hellmouth there, and the mansion that the Winchester's now owned, it was pretty much a given. As she was still trying to figure out what she wanted to do besides Slaying, she was going to go to Cleveland State.

Sam came into the library holding yet another box of books. "I grabbed this out of the dangerous but not evil pile. You know we're going to have to get some better protections around here for these. Almost anyone can just walk in and grab the wrong things."

"Your right but until we know which things are the right things we're going to have to have the wrong things around too." Willow said as she skimmed yet another book.

"Yeah," Sam said as he sat down with the topmost book from the box. "I just wish we could find this scythe thing." Willow sighed in agreement; it was going to be a long time before they figured this one out. "Maybe Dean found it in that load of weapons he sorted?" he mused. It made sense that a weapon connected mystically to the Slayer line would be found in a vault in the Watcher's Council headquarters.

Benson and Stabler stood behind Dean and Spike in the office of the Curator of the Police Museum. The irony of exactly which museum they were at was not lost on them. What they were doing there wasn't something they understood however.

"Here is the piece Mr. Howell said you might be interested in gentlemen." The Curator beamed at them while handing over a rugged wooden box. "We can't use it in our museum of course, but it is a very fine piece of American gunsmithing."

The SVU detectives couldn't believe that these, demon hunters, were trying to by an old antique gun from a museum. What was even stranger was the change in Spike. They now understood what he had meant by playing William. William was a polite gentleman of obvious wealth and breeding, quite possibly someone's younger son working for the personal interests of his parents or family friend. Xander had explained that 'William' was who Spike had been before he had been turned into a vampire and so had access to all of 'William's' memories. What they didn't know was why any of this was happening.

Dean opened the box and Spike carefully took out the gun. It was in perfect condition, and Spike quickly read the inscription, translating it from the Latin into English, 'Fear no Evils'. "This is indeed the Colt that we have been looking for sir. As this is a public museum and I am aware that you must account for each and every penny, how do you wish to be paid?" Spike asked. That matter was quickly sorted out; they took possession of the Colt and returned to the Impala.

"Hey little brother, we found it." Dean grinned into his cell phone. "First piece of the puzzle is in the bag. There are seven bullets left. The inscription matches and while at the moment I'm sure Xander would love for me to test it on Spike; I'd rather have the Witches do the testing. We need every fighter we can get."

"Are they arguing again?" Sam asked. "Never mind I already know the answer to that one. Listen, when you sorted the weapons Ellen had delivered to the mansion did you find anything that you would call a scythe? We need to find one that is connected to the Slayers fast."

"Hmmm, there was one thing I guess you could call it that; I put it in with the serious magic group. It did feel like it was connected to Faith somehow." Dean shrugged. "I can't explain better than that. Why did you ask?"

"Dr. Jackson came through with the translation. We need seven Slayers to close the hellmouth and somehow we need to use the scythe to call them. We've already figured out that we can't call them the traditional way."

"Hell no you won't!" Dean growled. "No one is killing Faith!"

"Calm down big brother, no one is going to kill your girl. I just said that we can't do that. It won't work because we have no way of knowing where the next Slayer to be called will be. We're trying to make sure that as many Potentials as possible survive, remember? We still need seven Slayers though."

"How are we going to get seven Slayers then?"

"That's what we need to figure out and we need the scythe to do that. Call me when you're on your way home."

"Ok, Sam I'll call when we're on the road." Dean hung up and looked over at Spike. "Do not under any circumstances tell them anything that happened last night."

"Why does everyone think I'm stupid? It is not my fault I ended up working with you lot. Now what were you talking about seven Slayers for?" Spike wanted to know.

"To close the hellmouth we need seven Slayers and no Spike," Dean glared, "you do not get to kill the current Slayers to call the next one. They're trying to figure out how to call them right now." Spike shrugged, he was ok with not having the migraine from hell that would bring on. Besides, no one else had ever managed to kill two Slayers other than him, and he hadn't even been 100 years old when he had managed that.

"What's a Slayer?" Stabler asked. He wasn't sure why but more and more he thought he was on the verge of more than just something as world view rocking as finding out that vampires existed.

"That's what that little girl will grow up to be, a Vampire Slayer, Champion for the forces of good and all that stuff, hip hip hooray," Spike snarked. "Normal way of getting them is one dies and the next is called. Right now there are two Slayers because Xander gave Buffy CPR after the Master drowned her. But for some reason to seal the damned hellmouth we need seven of them alive and kicking."

"You've said that already, but what is a Vampire Slayer?" Benson prodded.

"Pretty much what it sounds like; a fifteen year old girl who is called by the Powers That Be to fight Vampires and other demons who want to kill humans and those who for some stupid reason want to end the world in a mystical fashion. Normal humans have to take care of their own end the world types if they use nukes and stuff. As Spike said usually there is only one girl at a time. The Powers That Be are the ones in charge of the fight against the forces of darkness, or at least the evil stuff that comes from other dimensions and end up here on earth. I guess you could say they are angels or something, I got no real idea. Any way here in America you've got Hunters like my family, normal people who," Dean said before Spike interrupted him.

"Who says your family is normal?" Spike wanted to know. "Your dad is a Hunter turned Seer, your little brother is a Seer who grew up Hunting, you're psychic, your little sister is a powerful Witch and your step-mum to be is a Slayer."

"I didn't know that growing up now did I? As I was saying, Hunters are normal people who for one reason or another find out that the supernatural is real and start Hunting things down that hurt other people with the intention of killing, exorcising, or banishing those things. There are Witches, both good and bad, Psychics generally help out when they can, Weapons dealers provide us with quite a lot of what we need in the area of specialized weapons, there are people who specialize in research, teaching, providing sanctuary, etc. Basically we're a lose group of affiliated independents here in the States. In England they are a little more organized. Up until the bombing, there was an organization called the Watcher's Council who trained Potential Slayers from all over the world. As far as I know they were the biggest organization before their headquarters was destroyed. Neither of the current two Slayers was in England. They are both on the Sunnydale Hellmouth right now." Dean said trying to sum it up for them.

"What's a hellmouth?" Benson wanted to know.

"A portal that opens into other dimensions so bad they are called hell. Open one and generally it brings about hell on earth. Any more questions or can we drop off Spike and pick up Xander now?" Dean asked. He hated having to explain stuff to newbies.

Hell on earth. The phrase rang in their minds. These two were talking about literally preventing hell on earth. It only took one look at each other to know what the other was thinking. "Is there any way we can help?" Stabler asked. Dean turned around and grinned. He'd had a good feeling about these two; at least he did once he got over the whole Dawn incident.

"Why did Peaches have to go and break that gem?" Spike whined.

"Umm as I recall he said something about a sicko vampire who liked to torture little kids." Willow said absent mindedly as she looked through yet another book. They were stuck in the Magic Box while Giles helped Joyce with her closing business sale. It amazed her how many people were swarming the store on their way out of town.

"Yeah, I know about him, but the poof killed him." Spike whined. He hated being cooped up unless he was sleeping. Then he enjoyed the comfort of knowing that the sun was on one side of the wall or even better, several walls away from him. Why couldn't he be the kind of vampire who slept all day? He never could manage to pull that off.

Buffy entered the store with another crate of books. "Are you done with that bunch Willow?"

"Yep, there's nothing here on the scythe." Willow said as she closed the book she had been reading. "I just keep getting this feeling that I'm missing something obvious."

"Ok, I'll take these to Dawn and she can get them to Cleveland. We've got everything from the totally evil piles in the basement there already." Buffy said.

The bell over the door rang as someone entered the shop. Buffy ignored the customer as she packed up the books that Willow had rejected as being of no use. The woman who had entered the shop went directly to Willow. "I'm looking for Rupert Giles," she said briskly.

Her British accent had both Willow and Buffy's immediate attention. Spike just ignored her and continued to poke around the shop. "Are you from the Council?" Willow asked quietly. The woman looked startled and nodded. "He's right across the street helping his wife with her going out of business sale." Willow came out from behind the counter and guided her over to the research table. As soon as she sat down, Buffy appeared with a cup of tea.

"Thank you," the woman said as she drank the tea. Well, he certainly has civilized these girls, she thought. She didn't realize they were treating her as a shock victim. "My name is Amanda Harding. I need to speak to Mr. Giles as soon as possible."

"My name is Willow. We're pretty laid back around here." Willow said as Buffy went across the street. "This is the hellmouth after all, and it's kind of an 'all hands on deck' situation right now to boot. The First has started to open the hellmouth and we're trying to get people to leave as quickly as possible. It's kind of hard and easy at the same time. The local nonviolent demons are the easiest to convince of course, most of them are gone now. We even have a few of them house-sitting for us in Cleveland. That's where most of us will be going once we close the hellmouth here. Most of the local human population is tending to either ignore the vibes from the hellmouth or are just up and leaving on their own. There are quite a few of those who know about the hellmouth here, most of them are sending their families away if they aren't leaving themselves.

"I don't suppose you know of any rituals that are connected to the Slayer's scythe do you? It's very important that we find it." Willow wasn't quite babbling. She thought that a little chatter however, would help Amanda to get to know the situation and calm her down at the same time.

Amanda on the other hand was shocked. Who was this girl and how did she know so much about the current situation? She wasn't expecting to find anyone but a small handful of escaped Watchers and perhaps a Potential or two with Mr. Giles and his Slayer, Buffy Summers. This girl was no Potential, she was far too old. Amanda guessed her age to be in her early twenties.

"And you are one of these people, I assume?" Amanda asked.

"Me? No, I'm a Scooby." This confusing statement was met with a blank stare. Willow giggled. "I've been best friends with Buffy Summers since she moved to town six years ago. I've been helping her to fight ever since she saved my life the same day we met. It was from vampires of course, but the three of us, that's Giles, Xander and I, helped her to stop the Harvest that week. We've had an apocalypse a year ever since. Sometimes we even get a mini-apocalypse like the Harvest was. You'll find that volunteers are welcomed here in the States."

When that didn't clear up the blankness that was in Amanda's expression she sighed. "Giles and Buffy don't run things here the way that the old guys on the Council wanted. That's the real reason Giles was fired. Of course we think the way that they wanted him to run things was extremely stupid. It's much better to have all the help you can get, especially when it comes to research." Willow took another book from the crate that Buffy had sent over. She handed it to Amanda and said, "Rituals that involve the Slayer's scythe or the Slayer in any capacity are what we're looking for right now. Speak up if you find one."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 27

Out on patrol once again, Buffy should have been more excited. They were getting closer to shutting down the hellmouth. As it was she was just getting tired and frustrated. If it wasn't for the other's taking patrols she'd be exhausted. She so wanted the Watcher types to just figure out how to get everything done so she could rest. Thanks to Dean, Xander and Spike they had both the Colt and a contact with a couple of cops in New York. Willow and Sam were on the hunt for the spell that was needed to call the rest of the Slayers needed to shut down the hellmouth and Dean had finally found the Slayer's Scythe in among the weapons that were delivered from the Council vault. Willow kept muttering about missing something for the trees but Buffy refused to think about it. She had enough problems on her hands.

Dawn and Faith were working on a science fair project. The very idea that those two were working together on any possibly explosive type experiment was enough to give her chills. What was worse was that it was stored at the high school and Willow was far too busy trying to figure out how to save the world to supervise them. She was also worried about how many people weren't moving out of Sunnydale. Although they still had months to go before the hellmouth opened, there were still far too many people in Sunnydale for her peace of mind. The only really good thing was that all of the non-violent demons were out. The last had left this morning. That was one thing she didn't have to worry about any more. They had taken her seriously and had rushed to get out as quickly as possible. Elizabeth and Tara were going around town closing down any magic that was abandoned by moving or dead practitioners. They didn't want any magic causing problems by running amok without controls or by interacting with the hellmouth.

John eyed Buffy as she marched through the remainder of the patrol, not really seeing what was in front of her. He knew that she was preoccupied with trying to figure out a way to evacuate the town and he was more than happy to watch her back while she beat up the local vampires as a way to work out her frustrations. It was interesting to watch her running on instinct while her mind was otherwise occupied. She was even more alert to the dangers than usual, but even less 'here' than before. He guessed this was what she meant when she said she was letting the Slayer out a bit more. He was glad, because the situation was becoming more and more difficult. There wasn't a single night that went by that they weren't attacked at least once and the attacks were getting steadily worse.

About a quarter of the town's human population had gone, and every night they had to rescue another person. While most humans were smart enough to stay inside at night, there were always ones who either had to be out or who just weren't that smart. It was the ones who weren't smart that were driving Buffy crazy right now. He could hear her muttering about stupidity and something about human pretzels with their heads shoved somewhere, he'd missed the last bit of that part but he could take a wild guess.

He was just thankful that yet another patrol was over and another human was high tailing it out of town. Buffy on the other hand was still pissed off at the man she had saved from being eaten by a ten foot demon lizard with an axe and wearing some kind of harness. How anyone could call that an alligator and say the cops should have warned people about animals escaping from the zoo was beyond him. Although he did know that the fact that the man had thanked JOHN for saving him when it had been Buffy that killed it meant that he had a long morning of groveling ahead of him. It was enough to make him want to feed the idiot to the demon himself. Not that Buffy would blame him for the idiot's attitude, but he knew better than to let Buffy think that he agreed with said idiot and that meant groveling. Of course groveling usually put her in a good mood and an after patrol groveling was even better. Smiling at that thought he followed her into the mansion.

"I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!" the yell came the moment they walked in the front door. It was Willow's voice. Forgetting everything else, Buffy and John sprinted up to the second floor where Willow had been holed up in the library for weeks. Naturally, Buffy got there first and bursting into the library was astonished to see her best friend hitting her head on the table while Sam just sat there shaking his head.

"Willow!" Buffy cried and grabbed her head to stop her from banging it on the table. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, hi Buffy, it's just that I finally figured out what calling the Slayers with the Scythe means." Willow blushed. "It means just that. No ceremony, no ritual, just pour magic into the Scythe and boom, the Scythe does the rest. I am the world's biggest idiot. The Slayer's Scythe is called that because it is tied into the Slayer line. It has a link to every Potential out there."

Buffy just stood there, considering. She knew that Willow would follow any lead she gave her, but right now was not the time to be giving life altering orders. "Go get some sleep guys. Faith, Amber, Sarah and I have to talk about this. It changes things."

Hours later both Slayers and the two Potentials were closeted in Faith's room. "Ok, so Red knows how to call the girls. We need seven Slayers to spill their blood on the seal to close the hellmouth and that means we need to get three more girls here. How much blood are we gonna have to give up?"

"That's the good news," Buffy said. "I asked Dr. Jackson and he said that the Ancient's made it easy to close the damn thing and hard to open. I guess the First really had to do a lot of preparation, including finding a corrupted protector, by which I guess he meant Travers. We just have to have Willow charge up the Scythe and have seven Slayers bleed on the seal at once. He said that it shouldn't take too much blood, not enough to affect us at any rate. The problem is; are we going to have seven Slayers? All of us have had close calls lately and the Potentials are being hunted down as we speak." She paced the room. "I don't want to have to call any of the babies back from the land of light just so we can close the damned thing."

"They can't be called, they're too little!" Amber protested. Sarah nodded her head in agreement. She was finding out more and more that she liked the way things were run here. She hadn't been expecting to be part of the decision making as she was only a Potential and her first Watcher had been the type who wouldn't have done anything but given her orders even if she had been called. She had been grateful to find that she had another Watcher waiting for her when she arrived in Sunnydale after helping Dawn with the little Potential and her family, what was left of it anyhow. They had stayed at Cheyenne Mountain long enough for the family's injuries to heal enough for Gate travel and then they had returned to Sunnydale.

"No way we call the babies, B. I say we call every girl that's calling age and up and wait for them to get here. That way we have a chance that three more will show up and they have a chance to survive the damned Bringers." Faith threw the knife she was toying with into the wall.

"Amber, Sarah, what do you two say? This affects you as well. We already know that you'll be called as soon as we get three more Potentials here. We have to call you, we can't wait a moment longer than we have to, but do you think we should call all of the Potentials, turn them all into Slayers?" Buffy asked. She knew she wouldn't have wanted to be a Slayer if she'd had the choice almost six years ago.

"The Harbringers are killing them Buffy. Even those with Watchers are being killed and most of the ones who aren't don't even know why. I say call them and give them a chance to live. I only survived because Dean and Xander were there." Sarah said. She didn't want to be a Slayer, but the alternative was unacceptable to her.

"Call them," was Amber's opinion. "I don't think any of them will get here other wise."

All three of them looked at Buffy. "If Willow can make sure that the Potentials have a choice I agree. It was bad enough when we didn't have a choice. They need to have one. I can't do this if they don't get a choice." They could hear the pain in her voice. Knowing that she had been the Slayer the longest and longer than any Slayer in centuries, they simply nodded. She would know better than they did how becoming a Slayer limited your choices.

Buffy led them out of Faith's room and down to the kitchen. It was the usual mass confusion that comes from trying to feed a large group of people all at the same time. Xander and Spike had come back from their trip to find that Jack had moved all three of them into the mansion due to the fact that their apartment complex was almost deserted. Since the whole idea for him to move in with them had been so that he wasn't alone he figured that the least he could do was move them into the mansion so they wouldn't have to do it when they got back. Besides, this way he didn't have to sleep on the couch anymore.

Elizabeth had come to the same conclusion when people started moving out of her apartment complex and was now sharing a room with Amber and Grace. With everything that was going on Giles and Joyce had also come to the same conclusion and had either sold most of their things in LA or moved them to Cleveland. That was what most of the gang had decided to do. Anything that was too important to sell or lose when Sunnydale went under and too bulky to keep with them went to Cleveland. That included the important papers for each person, identification, birth certificates, adoption papers (faked by Willow for Dawn), marriage certificates, etc. That had brought the fact that Dean was legally dead to Willow's attention.

She hadn't been able to devote any time to the situation but now that she had figured out what she needed to do about calling the Slayers to close the hellmouth she was quizzing Dean about how he had ended up legally dead. "We had a job from a friend of Sam's. Her brother was accused of killing his girlfriend but he was with her at the time that his girlfriend died. It turned out it was a shapeshifter on a killing spree. We have no idea how many girls it killed before we got there, but there were two attacks after we arrived. We managed to save Becky, but the damned thing died while it was wearing my shape and it had my wallet so I was blamed for the murders and was declared dead and buried. If we try to say that I'm alive and well, the murders are still blamed on me and I do not want to touch that," Dean was adamant. While he had taken human lives before, it was always as a last resort and the way the shapeshifter had bludgeoned the women to death personally offended him. It had been a pleasure killing the bastard, even more when he found it strangling Sammy.

Willow thought about that as she ate her cereal. Dean had just shrugged it off as a hazard of the profession but there had to be someway to fix it. There was so much that Dean couldn't do because he was legally dead, such as rent his own apartment in Cleveland. She didn't think that he and Faith would want to stay at the mansion there forever and Faith's record wasn't something that would encourage the better landlords to rent to them. "I think I can get you your identity back, but it's going to take some time to do. I have to go back and fiddle with the coroner's report for instance."

Dean nodded and continued to eat his own cereal. If he didn't eat in a hurry there was a good chance that someone would snag the rest of the box before he was full. Oh the joys of communal living, his brain snarked, having to defend your cereal from more than just your brother. Defending his cereal from Sammy was something he could do, no problem. He'd done it for years. It was Xander and Jack that he had to watch out for. Each one of them could down an entire box in one sitting and they liked the sugary ones too. Although Xander was a Captain Crunch fiend and Jack loved Fruit Loops if he didn't watch them they were more than happy to chow down on his Lucky Charms.

Willow just smiled as Dean glowered at Jack and Xander. Their cereal wars were fun to watch. She was glad that Xander had found some male friends who shared his interests. How many twenty something men were out there who were junk food fanatics, understood military talk and fought demons on a regular basis? Not to mention had a similar sense of humor to Xander? The pranks that Dean, Sam and Xander had pulled this summer had been wonderful to see mostly because it had been years since Xander had indulged himself like that.

In fact she hadn't seen one of Xander's pranks since Jesse had died. Jesse had always been Xander's prank conspirator. Now that Jack had joined the ranks, Xander had more than one person to prank and more than one person who loved to help him pull them off. She hadn't even minded the few times that she had been the recipient of the pranks because they kept the pranks pulled on the girls to more than within reason. There was no damaging of clothes or anything else that would be humiliating and nothing that brought more than a pulled face at the pranksters. Considering who they were and the fact that the ladies were more than able to deal out a sizable revenge she knew that someone had used their brains as well as their sense of humor to design the pranks. Her vote was on Jack as he was the most experienced of the group. Otherwise someone would have tried something; there was no doubt about that.

"So do you want me to do it, or should I just ignore it?" Willow asked.

"Go for it, but don't put it ahead of anything else. There is a lot of stuff that is more important right now." Dean said. Willow nodded in agreement. This was just one more thing to put on her to do list.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 28

A/N: The idea for the John meets Pastor Jim story came from nardasarmy over at spnflashback. This didn't make it to the Back to School Challenge Prompt list and I was very disappointed to see that and so I added it here.

John sat in front of the fireplace and drank the hot chocolate that Joyce was passing out. It was Christmas time and everyone was relaxing after a big Christmas Eve dinner. The kids were sitting on the floor listening to Giles tell a story about his early experiences as Buffy's Watcher. Needless to say the entire evening had been filled with such stories and laughter.

"How about you John? Do you have a story about your early years as a hunter?" Willow asked. She was hoping for a story similar to the one Sam had told them on the first day of school.

John thought back to his early years. It hadn't been easy and in his mind there were more things awful than funny about his education but there was one story he could tell. "Well, when Dean was almost six and Sammy was one and a half I met Pastor Jim and his wife Evie.

"We were in this little town in Arkansas and I was still learning about what goes bump in the night. It had only been a year since Mary had been murdered but I had learned enough to start hunting. I hadn't learned that salting and burning the human remains of a ghost would stop the ghost yet, but I had learned how to do an exorcism. There was a ghost killing teenaged boys in revenge for her rape and murder in this old house close to where we were staying. It had taken me weeks to figure it out, mostly because being a full time parent and working a full time job left me little time to do the research. Not to mention the fact that I was still learning 'how' to do research.

"I had a neighbor who was in the same boat I was, being a single parent that is, and we worked opposite shifts. I worked days and she worked nights, so we traded babysitting. Neither one of us could afford to pay anyone. She dropped the kids off one night and saw that I had a shopping list out on the table. Before I could grab it from her she picked it up and said "Well I have no idea why you would want holy water, but if you really need it the only place you can find it is over at Pastor Jim's. He's the minister over in the next town." Now this whole area is almost militant Southern Baptist. I had no idea of where I was going to get holy water for blessing the house. I was shocked that a Baptist minister would have holy water.

"So after I get off work that Friday I take the boys and plan a little road trip to see if this minister really had the holy water I needed. It turned out that he did and since I didn't know I could tell him why I needed the holy water, I admit I stole it. I needed a lot of the stuff for a job the size of a house and I came back every night for a week. I still feel sorry for the poor guy. Here he was filling up the bowl every day and overnight it would disappear. He knew that nothing evil could touch it but he couldn't figure out who was taking it. Every hunter he knew would just ask for some because they knew he kept a store of it in the basement of the church.

"So he figures it must be some kids playing around and he sets up surveillance on the bowl of holy water." Kit, Carlos and Dawn start giggling, imagining a soft southern minister hiding in the shadows of the church watching a bowl full of water. John nodded at the kids. "Yeah, it was pretty silly. But he was really worried about what these supposed kids were doing with his holy water. So you can imagine his surprise when he sees me sneaking into the church with Dean and Sammy holding onto my legs because I'm trying to empty the holy water into an empty Sprite bottle and not spill any."

It was the mention of the Sprite bottle that did it. The play on words was too much for the guys and they joined the kids in laughing their backsides off. John just smiled and shrugged, it had worked as a jug and he hadn't been one to knock what had worked whether it was something to carry holy water in or the fact that ghosts were repelled by salt. "Well he sees this scruffy guy with two little boys hanging onto his legs stealing his holy water and doesn't know what to think. So he comes up behind me, and like I'd said I'd only been at this for a year now and I really wasn't good at the job yet, and when I put the bowl down and put the cap on the bottle I turn around and there he is. He's just standing there with his hands in his pockets looking at me, then the boys and then up at me again and asks, "Couldn't you have set a better example and just asked for the holy water?" I felt about two inches tall standing there. Dean is the one who saved the day. He told Pastor Jim that I didn't want to steal the holy water but I needed it to stop a ghost from killing some grown up boys and he wouldn't have given us the holy water for that because regular people don't believe in ghosts and we didn't want to lie to someone who worked for God.

"He straightened up, took the jug from me and ushered all three of us down to the basement. When we got down there he pulled out two gallon jugs of holy water and asked if that would be enough or did I need more for the job? To say the least I was shocked. He then explained to me that he supplied the Hunters who came through with anything that he could, including holy water. Then he added that we were coming over to his house which was next door to the church and having a home cooked meal because his wife would have his hide if he let us leave without letting her feed us.

"By the time we got done with dinner they'd not only figured out I was a rookie but that I was a driven rookie and wouldn't be dissuaded. So Evie took the boys and settled them down for a story and a nap and Pastor Jim started to quiz me on the job. Lord, I was so green you could have called me Kermit."

"The only good frog," Willow declared and the others shushed her.

"Pastor Jim was the one who explained to me that I didn't need to exorcise the whole house, what I needed to do was find the body of that poor girl; dig her up and salt and burn her body to ashes. That would purify and break the connection to this world that the ghost needed to do damage here. He went with me that night and showed me how to do the job properly. He also taught me an exorcism for buildings that didn't need holy water. The one I was trying to do was for living people possessed by demons. The three of us have been part of his special flock ever since." John concluded with a smile.

"He sounds like a special friend," Tara said.

"That he is, Tara but he never has stopped teasing me about stealing that holy water." That got another laugh from the group and Dean turned to Faith who had just walked in after finishing her patrol.

"Are you ok?" he demanded after seeing the shreds her clothes were in.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just real wore out and more than a little freaked. Wes, Jeeves, we got us a different type of vamp out there now. Stakes don't do any good, neither did holy water. I could barely keep him off and I finally had to take his head off with my knife. He sure was an ugly bastard." She gave a decent description of the vampire and went and sat down by Dean.

"Were you underground at the time?" Wesley asked.

"I was doing the school patrol Wes; I promise I wasn't going looking for trouble. I was in the basement and fell down into a hole." Faith wasn't happy about the new vampire. It had shrugged off her favorite stake and she had lost it. "Sorry about the stake Dean. He took it with him when I cut his head off."

"It was a Turok-Han," Wesley said grimly.

"The super vamps?" Sarah asked, her voice rising in worry.

Wesley nodded. "The only way to kill one is by beheading or sunlight so they tend to stay underground even during the night, only going above ground to feed."

"We'll deal," Dean said. "I'm just glad that you made it back. I'll carve you another stake, no problem. Now, Giles and my dad each just finished with a funny yet embarrassing story from when they just got started in the business. It's your turn." He grinned up at Faith. He wanted to get her distracted from the super vamp and bring the party back to where it was before she came in.

Faith turned to the Potentials and said, "Never sleep in the nude because you never know when you are going to have to jump out of bed and slay something. I saved some people and ended up arrested for indecent exposure."

"You didn't!" exclaimed Sam, who was sharing the love seat with Aphra. She had sent her family out of town and Sam had invited her to spend her Christmas with them.

"She did!" chorused the original Scoobies. They had heard about that story the first night they had met Faith. Of course this time she wasn't bragging about it or explaining just who she had saved. It was just one of the things that showed how much she had changed since she first came to Sunnydale.

"B's turn!" Faith declared.

Buffy hung her head. "I've got two. The first is never wear a strapless formal dress when you know there are vampires gunning for you. They crashed the dance and I jumped up on one football player vamp to decapitate him with this pen knife I had. When he dusted I fell down on the cutest boy at the dance and continued to fall out of my dress right in his face." The girls groaned in sympathetic embarrassment while the guys hid their looks from Buffy. No one wanted to provoke her as her face was already a bright red.

"The second thing is to tell whoever is in charge of you," and this time she looked directly at Jody, the Potential who had arrived the day before with her parents in tow. Her Watcher had been killed in the explosion in London and she had dragged both her parents to Sunnydale on her own, "When you need to go save the world from an apocalypse, either a mini one or a full on major production. I didn't and I got grounded for it."

"Oh Lord, which one was that?" Joyce asked. "I know it had to have been before you told me about being the Slayer."

"That was when we had to take care of those eggs for the baby deal." Xander said. "I accidentally saved myself from becoming a zombie Xander by boiling my egg. Imagine my horror when I went to peel it." As he had intended, this sent the group back into the laughing party spirit.

"Your turn Xander, how about one of your dating experiences?" Willow teased.

"How about I don't?" Xander firmly put his foot down. "Always watch where your feet are because you never know when you'll find yourself standing in the middle of a mystical circle. I went to save a nerd from some bullies and ended up being possessed by a hyena. While I only ate the pig who was the school mascot, the bullies ended up eating the school principal."

"You were possessed by a hyena and a soldier?" John asked.

"Hyena, soldier, been thralled by vampires, had love spells go wrong, I think if you name it, it either has happened to me or is on the list to happen to me." Xander shook his head. "There is a reason they call me a demon magnet."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "Lets see, I've been nearly drowned, strangled more times than I want to count, got fleas from a werewolf, been possessed by ghosts, "

"You got fleas from a werewolf?" Willow asked, appalled. She knew that the Winchesters didn't hunt those who did no harm, but still.

"God, I remember that," John laughed. "Both of them were itching something fierce by the time that job was done. Those bastards liked to hunt children and I didn't know there was more than one of them. It wasn't a case of someone who didn't know what they were. While I was coming back from rescuing a little girl, taking her home and making sure she and her folks were ok, the other one went after Dean and Sam. By that time none of us were rookies though, and Dean shot it before it got close to either of the boys. The fleas came from the boys getting rid of the body."

The stories and laughter continued well into the night.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 29

Willow sat down with the Scythe in front of her and scowled. Buffy insisted that the Potentials she called with the Scythe be given a choice. That meant that there was a chance of Potentials turning the chance down. Of course calling all Potentials over fifteen also meant that some of them might be over eighteen too. She could expand the parameters on that end of the calling easily. That decided she turned her thoughts to how to call the Potentials. If they were going to be making a choice it was better that the choice be an informed one. She hated making blind choices herself and considering that any Potential who accepted would be voluntarily cutting her life span short they really needed to know what would happen if they did volunteer. How could she explain the choice? She wouldn't have much time and no matter when she cast the spell some of the girls would be asleep.

Asleep, some of the girls would be asleep! Yes, if she made the information into a dream then even the girls who were asleep would be able to make an informed choice. It would be easy for the girls who were awake to take a short nap or have a daydream. Dreams conveyed information at a much faster rate than even telepathy. She jumped up and ran off to talk to Buffy and Faith.

She found Buffy and John at the high school looking over Faith and Dawn's science project. It was the last day before the end of the semester and the girls were busy with the Parent/Teacher conference day. The Sunnydale school system had a conference day at the beginning of each semester. In the case of the beginning of the second semester, this was the day that report cards for the previous semester were handed out. The girls had turned in the project for the extra credit. Dawn wanted Buffy and John to see it to show them that no; she hadn't blown anything up. In this family it was a real concern. Dawn was well aware of the different things that could go wrong with science projects after the story of the attempted Frankenstein's monster and wanted to show her parents that it was possible to have a project not backfire on the students.

Willow barely glanced at the project; it had something to do with the effects of electricity on various substances, and dragged Buffy and Faith over to a corner. "Sorry to interrupt but I need to know if I can borrow some of your memories to make a dream for the Potentials so they know what they are choosing?"

"I guess," Buffy said slowly. "As long as I get them back, because I really don't like the idea of missing some of my memories." Faith just gave Willow a look that managed to convey the idea that she thought Willow was nuts and she wasn't sure she really wanted to have anything to do with whatever the red head was proposing.

"Oh, no I don't mean that I would be taking them out of your mind's memory bank and you would have holes in your memories it's more like I would take some and copy them so that the Potentials could see what being a Slayer was all about and I figured I'd have to include the Master and that sort of thing as well as the good stuff which you're going to have to tell me or rather show me in the spell I use to copy the memories…." Buffy and Faith looked at each other and put their hands over Willow's mouth to stop her babble. It had been a while since she had done a really good ramble but they could tell that she was a bit nervous about their reaction.

"That's perfect Willow."

"Yeah, go for it Red."

"Ok, well, I'll see you later. Hope this goes well for you." Willow said as she waved her hand around the room and made good her escape.

Buffy and Faith stared at each other in horror. Willow had said the absolutely worst thing possible. There was no way they would get through the day without something going wrong now. Whimpering, Buffy laid her head on Faith's shoulder. Faith patted her sister Slayer's shoulder while doing her best to amp up her senses. She wanted to be able to find the problem before it got out of hand.

She was rewarded by the sound of beakers and other glass objects in the next classroom exploding. Instantly both Slayers were running for the classroom, right behind John and Dean. They stopped in the doorway so they didn't run over the guys who had stopped dead just inside the classroom. There was a ghost, at least Faith thought it looked like a ghost, she wasn't sure, standing in the center of the classroom hurling glass at the male students. "This one's yours guys."

Buffy and Faith began running interference between the flying glassware and the class's students, parents and teachers. John and Dean went for the ghost while Dawn ran for her locker and the rock salt she kept there. Nothing they did seemed to make any difference. After Faith and Buffy had gotten all of the civilians out of the room, Dean caught one of the Petri dishes and dropped his shields in an attempt to find out what the spirit was attached too. What he found was something shocking. The ghost wasn't angry. Instead it was trying to drive away the students in an attempt to save them from something. "Dad, keep him busy! He's trying to drive everyone out of the school."

Dean dropped down to the floor and dropped his shields farther, concentrating on the Petri dish. An image formed in his mind of a giant preying mantis. His head shot up, "Hey Buffy! Do you know anything about a giant preying mantis bug? It ate the ghost guy!"

"That was Dr. Gregory, he was the science teacher. She ate his head and went after Xander. That was an easy job, slice and dice. No more preying mantis ladies here." Buffy called out as she poked her head around the corner. "She stuck Dr. Gregory's body in the school cafeteria. I don't know what happened to it after that. Don't worry though; none of you guys are eligible for her to go after anyway."

"Why's that?" John called.

"Preying mantis ladies only go after male virgins of sexually mature age. Since neither one of you is a virgin, your safe." John and Dean grimaced at each other; that was something they really didn't want to know, and if there was a mantis around they didn't want to have to figure out who was eligible. "I'm calling Willow to find out where they buried him."

"So why is the good doctor trying to get kids out of the school now?" Dean wondered as he and John ducked behind one of the lab tables.

"My guess is someone used something he still had a tie to as part of their science project," John said sourly. He and Dean looked at each other. Next time the girls were going to bring all of their project components to be tested for possession BEFORE they used them.

Dean and John both left the school right behind Buffy as she carried the last of the kids out of the high school. While she dealt with the emergency of getting those parents, teachers and students who had been at the school cared for, John went in search of the principal. "Mr. Brown?"

Brown turned around to find Buffy Summers' fiancé standing behind him. "Yes, Mr. Winchester?" His opinion of the man hadn't changed one iota over the past five months. The man was far too old to be dating a girl barely out of high school.

"We've evacuated the school. We've also found a way to close the hellmouth permanently. The trouble is it is going to destroy the school and probably a good portion of the surrounding area. You need to think of a way to shut down the school and get as many people out of town as possible." John looked up at the sky at the sound of thunder. "Great, just what we need, a thunderstorm. Look, it's up to you how you go about it, but we aren't going to be waiting for very long. We almost have everything we need to shut the damned thing down."

Brown paled at John's words. "Thank you for telling me." He hurried over to the group of teachers, leaving John standing in the rain.

The Winchesters and Faith piled into John's truck and headed for the Magic Box after Willow. The shop was in the final stages of being shut down and John's truck would be needed to move the last of the inventory. If they were lucky they would find Willow there helping Tara, Elizabeth, Xander and Spike. What they didn't expect was to find Caleb standing in front of the Magic Box. The Harbringers and Turok-Han were trying to attack the people inside who were gathering up the last of the magical supplies. Spike and Xander were holding them off at the front of the store, while someone was casting spells in the back.

Somehow the First had figured out that they had the Scythe. Buffy and Faith wanted to wade in and rescue them, but John and Dean held them back. "This isn't a slice and dice job, girls. Come on," Dean said as John opened up the back of his truck. While it was shotguns that John passed out, the little sawed offs that the Winchesters usually used weren't the ones that he handed to the Slayers. These were double barreled ten gage shotguns and Dean wasn't passing out rock salt. He was passing out blessed bullets. "Remember, two shots and then reload. These have two triggers so you can shoot both at the same time if you need it. With your speed at reloading you should be just as fast as we are with our pistols, but these pack a hell of a lot more punch."

"You know we should get them some twelve gages," John said to Dean as he took aim at the group of Harbringers.

"Twelve gages, hell I wanna see what they can do with a blunderbuss," Dean quipped. Talking about their girl's weapons and having Dawn standing between them as they fired over the hood of the truck helped them to suppress the fact that they were firing at the body of one of their oldest friends.

"What's a blunderbuss?" Faith wanted to know.

"It's an old gun. Blackbeard was famous for using one. The recoil is so bad that a man can't shoot it from the shoulder or it'll break his collar bone. It has to be shot from the hip." Dean lectured while shooting Harbringers. He knew he couldn't do anything about the supervamps, but at least he could shoot the child murdering Harbringers.

Buffy set her unloaded shotgun back in the truck and grabbed the machete. There were no longer enough Harbringers to keep her out of the fight with the vampires. Spike was already out in the middle of the fight. She knew that he had been hit with several bullets but it wasn't slowing him down. The only reason he was still standing that she could think of was adrenalin. He had wanted a shot at the 'bat faced' vamps since Christmas. That knowledge sat in the back of her mind, the rest was totally devoted to the fight in front of her. Faith was right there with them, decapitating vampires with relish. She had never totally regained her pure thrill of the hunt, but she was still a Slayer and killing vampires was what a Slayer was for.

With three of their own now in the midst of the battle, John, Dean and Dawn finally had to stop shooting for fear of hitting Buffy or Faith. In the Magic Box, Xander was faced with an even greater dilemma. He had the Colt.

Ever since bringing back the Colt from New York, he had been holding onto it and staying close to Willow. When he had been told about the seal needing seven Slayers to close the hellmouth permanently, he'd known that Willow was the one who would have to call them. He didn't know if it was the remnants of the soldier's or the hyena's instincts but he just knew his Willow would be a main target for the First. His Willowy Willow, his yellow crayon bestest friend in the whole wide world since kindergarten was in danger. And he had the only weapon that they knew of that could protect her. Which was why he was in the doorway holding onto the Colt and trying to figure out if he could take the shot. He didn't want to either waste the bullets or hit Buffy, Faith or Spike, who were out there doing their dance of death.

The last of the Harbringers went down under Buffy's machete and Xander was firing before he realized it. He fired off two shots and the first shot took out one of the Turok-Han as it crossed in front of the First. It fell into Spike, who was knocked off his feet in turn. Spike tripped Caleb and Xander's second shot went into Caleb's arm instead of his chest. He'd missed the heart shot.

The bullet still had an effect though, as Caleb screamed. The sound wasn't human and shattered glass for blocks all around. Holding its arm, Caleb fled while the Turok-Han continued to die.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 30

"Sam get your gear after you treat Spike. We have to do a salt and burn on a Dr. Gregory. He was a science teacher at the high school."

Sam looked up to see his dad walking into the room soaking wet and helping Xander carry Spike who was cursing up a storm, although it was so full of British and American slang from different eras that he only caught one word he understood in ten. "What happened to you? I thought you were going to do the teacher conference and then tell the principal to shut down the school? You look like you went wrestling with a selkie. And Spike, you look like you got on the wrong side of Kit and Carlos' target practice." Sam passed his dad a towel from the cabinet.

"It's been a hell of a day. We were supposed to have only three little errands today. Things didn't quite work out that way though. While we were checking out the girl's science project Willow showed up. She had figured out the spell that she needed and was telling Buffy and Faith about it. Just after she left, the ghost of an old science teacher showed up. He was killed by a giant bug. Buffy already killed it years ago, but it looks like the ghost doesn't know that. He's trying to drive people away from one of the science classrooms, or maybe the school itself." John shrugged and helped Xander put Spike on the table Sam used for examinations. "Buffy and Faith evacuated the school and I saw the principal so I delivered the message that we're close to shutting down the hellmouth. I hope I lit a fire under his ass. I know half the kids don't bother to show up for school anymore, but the last thing I want is for an innocent kid to be trapped there when we destroy the place. I basically told him we were going to blow it up again."

Xander sniggered. "Blowing up the school was fun. The stuff leading up to it was," he paused and swallowed against the memories, "Not fun, but the big explosion was really fun to see. By the way Sam, don't think of Halloween when we're talking about the bug that killed Dr. Gregory. Miss French was every school boy's dream and one of my personal nightmares. She was a giant preying mantis but she looked like a Playboy centerfold until she was ready to eat you."

"She went after you?" Sam asked as he cut into Spike's belly looking for the first bullet.

"You never forget your first kidnapping by a female who wants to mate with you and then eat you." Xander stated emphatically.

Dawn came in rubbing her hair with a towel and heard Xander's last statement. "Just be glad that Buffy chopped her up Xander. Knowing you she'd want a repeat."

"I'm no longer eligible as mantis bait Dawn, but thanks for the vote of confidence," Xander snarked.

Dean came in just wearing his jeans and a towel around his neck. He was carrying two sets of dry clothes. "Here you go Dad, Xander," he said as he passed the bundles over. "Dad, Willow is going to do the spell now, so I'm not going to the cemetery with you. Faith needs me here to help her get through her part of the memory portion of the spell."

"Shit, I'd better not go either then, Buffy may need some help." John looked at Sam. "I guess you and Dawn will have to take care of this ghost by yourselves. You'll need Dawn to keep the rain off so you can burn the corpse. Take whoever else wants to go with you."

"Alright, it sounds like you both have your hands full. But I still want to know how you four ended up soaking wet and Spike ended up being filled with friendly fire," Sam said sternly. No one was getting out of that discussion. 'Friendly fire wasn't', was a phrase that had been pounded into his head from the moment he and Dean had been given a gun to hold for the first time.

John sighed. "The reason we're wet is simple. It's raining out there. This town doesn't get much rain, so we weren't looking for it and no one had a coat on. Plus, well that also includes the reason why Spike is full of holes. After getting everyone out of the school until you and whoever is going can take care of the late Dr. Gregory, we went down to the Magic Box to help pack up the last of the inventory and shut down the store. You remember that was supposed to be the last on our short list of errands to do today. Well, we found Spike, Xander, Willow, Elizabeth, Giles and Joyce trapped inside the Magic Box by a mob of Harbringers, Turok-Han, and the First." John couldn't bring himself to refer to it as Caleb. It wasn't his old friend. "Spike was out in the rain fighting them when we pulled up. There weren't any humans in the mob, mostly due to a combination of the fact that they hadn't been there that long and the magic users casting spells from inside the store, so we started shooting into the crowd to take out the Harbringers. There were more of them than anything else."

Dawn twisted her hair up in the towel and started drying Spike's much to his very vocal annoyance. "Oh shut up Spike," she said without any heat. "We took out most of the Harbringers and Mom, Faith and Spike took out the rest plus the Turok-Han. It was Xander who really won the day though," she said proudly. "He managed to shoot the First. Thanks to a stupid vampire, not you Spike," Dawn said at Spike's wounded look, "I meant the Turok-Han. Couldn't he have fallen in the other direction? Anyway the First just caught the bullet in the shoulder, but you should have heard the scream! I'm surprised you didn't it was so loud it shattered glass!"

"You shot it? Did you use the Colt?" Sam demanded as he looked at Xander.

"Hey! Could you get a move on you bloody idiot?!?!! These bullets hurt like hell you know!" Spike yelled as Sam stopped before he had finished removing the final bullet.

"Sorry," Sam muttered and finished removing the last bullet. "Couple of pints of human and you'll be just fine. Xander did you?" Sam asked.

"Yep, I did. The First knows we have the Scythe. Willow's been playing around with it, remember?" Xander asked. "It has to know that we need a powerful witch to call the five Slayers we need. Every strong magic user we have except Dawn was down at the Magic Box today. The only warrior types we had were Spike and I. All the First had to do was overwhelm us and kill them and then as far as it knew we couldn't call the Slayers."

"And my magic is hidden unless I'm using it," Dawn pointed out. "Hey Spike, how many bullets did you catch? I can't believe you were still fighting after the first one."

"Take more than one of those blessed bullets to take me out Nibblet," Spike said. "You want to know, go count them. Big brother put them all in there." He pointed to a bowl at the foot of the table.

Dean jerked his head at the door and John nodded. Now was a good time to slip out while Xander and Spike were being interrogated. The last thing he wants is for Sam to yell at him for shooting into the crowd of demons just because Spike was there. Personally he thought that while Spike was a pretty decent fighter and knew that as long as Xander lived would be loyal to 'his nest' it still gave him the creeps sometimes to actually be working with a vampire, chipped or not. He knew that if the chip was removed and or Xander died, all bets were off where Spike was concerned.

"Where are they setting up?" John asked as he followed Dean down the hall.

"In the library, personally I think they all have some sort of weird attachment to libraries. They don't just go in there for research, have you noticed that? Spells, training, hanging out, they do all sorts of stuff in there. If you can't find one of them you just need to look in the library." Dean shook his head. He knew his way around a library as well as the next Demon Hunter, but his new family seemed to live in there some times. No wonder Sammy fit in so well here.

They entered the library just as Willow was putting the last of the powders she was using away. "Ok, this is going to be the hard part. Dean, would you sit here, just outside the circle next to Faith? And John could you do the same with Buffy? Whatever you do, don't cross the lines," Willow instructed as she set the Scythe in between the two Slayers.

From outside the circle, the witnesses (everyone who wasn't with Sam down in the infirmary) couldn't see much of anything happening except that Faith and Buffy both had tears streaming down their cheeks as the spell made them relive their memories. John knew that it wouldn't be easy for either of the Slayers. Willow's spell was copying both the best and the worst of their memories so the Potentials would have an idea, any idea, of just what sort of life they would be choosing. Then Willow moved her hands from the Slayers and down to the Scythe in front of her. There was a flash of white light the flooded the room and white started flowing down Willow's hair. By the time the group could see again her hair was pure white as were her eyes. "Are you ready to be strong?" she whispered and the question echoed somewhere deep within Faith and Buffy. But the effects of the spell were obvious as Amber, Sarah and Jody answered 'YES!' the looks on their faces showing that it wasn't Willow's physical voice that they heard.

All across the world, girls and women from age fifteen and up drifted off into a dream. Faster than thought they witnessed Buffy's and Faith's calling, Buffy's experiences with Lothos, the Master, Spike, Drucilla and Angelus, the Mayor, the good and bad experiences of her high school days, her friends and her Watcher, Faith's loss of her Watcher, her flight to Sunnydale, being sister Slayers with Buffy, her accident which ended a human life, her walk on the evil side as she lost her mind, her acceptance of life, her time in prison, and her redemption. When the images had been absorbed an image of Willow kneeling between Buffy and Faith appeared and Willow asked, "Are you ready to be strong?"

One and all they answered yes, as the knowledge of the life of a Slayer called to them the same way the life of a fireman or a police officer called to others. The need to serve and protect echoed in them all. Without being called as the Slayer, the need still drove the older ones. They had become police officers, soldiers, paramedics, and many other jobs around the world that would satisfy that need.

But in the United States, two women, both of them well past the traditional age of calling, knew what the dream was and what it meant. Olivia Benson sat up from where she had been dozing at her desk and met her laughing partner's eyes.

"Long shift Liv?" he teased.

"No, you remember our little run in with Dean, Xander and Spike? Their little explanation of why that little girl was a target?" she asked softly, looking around the almost deserted squad room.

"Yeah," Elliot said slowly.

"I've been called. I need to get to Sunnydale," she said simply. There was nothing else for her to say. Elliot knew the situation as well as she did.

Deep in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain Samantha Carter had fallen asleep while waiting for her turn to be examined by Dr. Frasier. It had been a hard trip through the gate, but there was no real reason for her to have fallen asleep like that. O'Neill was worried and about to call Janet when he heard Sam say yes and then she woke and sat straight up.

"Daniel, what exactly do the Slayers have to do to shut down the hellmouth?" she asked urgently.

"Why?" Daniel asked worriedly as Janet took the blood pressure cuff off of him.

"Because I've been called," she said simply.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 31

Jack was with Dawn in one of the many graveyards of Sunnydale with one of her big brothers and they were digging up a corpse. The weird thing was; he was fairly sure this was the Hellmouth Crew's version of a date. After all, they were practically alone with only Sam as a chaperone. As no one was allowed to patrol alone any more, this was the closest thing to that patrol date thing he'd heard the other guys talk about. He just didn't think he'd be digging up the corpse of a teacher if he ever did get the guts up to ask Dawn out.

If it wasn't for the fact that in some ways Dawn was older than he was, he didn't think he'd be able to handle actually trying to date her. He'd tried to date girls before but always ended up feeling like a very dirty old man when his very teenaged body reacted. With Dawn that wasn't a problem. They'd had several long conversations about their unique situations and while she found his tales of exploring the galaxy fascinating, it wasn't like when the others did. She not only took his tales of bad stuff in stride, she actually knew the areas he was talking about and could show him where they were in the night sky. She understood in ways that no one else did and at the same time could teach him stuff he hadn't known the first thing about, such as the current teen rituals, demons and ghosts and the like, and tidbits about one of his favorite subjects, astronomy. He sure hoped this counted as a date and not just another run of the mill corpse burning.

He stopped digging; leaning on his shovel he shook his head, "When did burning corpses get to be run of the mill?"

Sam laughed, "By the time I was eight I was looking forward to watching any tricks the ghost might try instead of the very boring sight of my dad and brother digging up yet another corpse to burn." He stopped as his shovel finally hit the coffin. "Here we are. Now get the top uncovered so we can open it. Dawn, do you have the salt and gas ready?"

"Yep," she said, holding the requested items up. "Personally I think it's sad that we have to do this. Buffy told me he was really nice to her in school, I mean, the fake memories say that, oh you know what I mean. I know most of the other teachers treated her like crap," she ended. It always frustrated her to try and talk about what she 'remembered' about the past.

Both Sam and Jack nodded. They did know what she meant and Sam knew that even killing the creature that had killed the one teacher to believe in you wouldn't have helped Buffy. It hadn't helped Dean. Just because of that he was glad his big brother wasn't here to watch this, even ten years later and with a different teacher wouldn't be enough for him to forget Miss Rachael.

Miss Rachael had been Dean's science teacher. It hadn't been a theoretical class full of numbers and memorized facts, but a 'kitchen' course where the students put the science to work on real life projects. Dean had built his first ghost temp thermometer in that class. Of course he had passed it off as a tool to measure cold spots to detect air leaks in a room. Miss Rachael had loved it and encouraged him to really get into taking his classmates ideas and to see if he could turn them into reality. He had taken it so hard when she'd been killed. Of course, it didn't help that he'd found the body.

It had been a Black Dog and all that was still recognizable of her was her head. Dean had gone after the Black Dog alone, something that had gotten him into real trouble with Dad, but at the same time Dad had understood that it was something Dean had needed to do. Miss Rachael hadn't been Dean's girl or anything like that, but she had been very important to him. Twelve year old Sammy had sneaked close to the door to listen to both the lecture Dean had received for going off on his own to hunt and the talk they'd had while Dad was stitching Dean up. It was one of the very few times he had ever heard his brother cry. It was also the first time he had heard his dad say something completely out of character with the hunter he knew.

"Don't let her death kill what you had with her Dean. She wouldn't want you to give up what you learned from her. Make that her legacy, that you keep learning and building things to help others." It wouldn't be until years later that Sam would realize it wasn't out of character for his dad at all. It was just that the legacy he had built to Mary was that of lives saved all over, in more small towns and cities than Sam could name off the top of his head.

The three of them stood at the grave of this science teacher and Sam wondered what his legacy was. It wasn't until Dawn answered that he realized he had asked the question out loud. "I don't know. But I do know that before he talked with Mom she was so down in the dumps about school she was thinking of quitting if she could have figured out a way to get around Grandma." Sam smiled; helping Buffy to be the first Slayer to ever attend college was a good legacy.

Detective Stabler pulled away from his partner's apartment and said, "We've got a flight directly to LA. I'm so glad we don't have anything going down right now. Captain said we could have five days but then we had to get our butts back on the job. How are you doing with the weirdness?"

"Ummhmm, I just hope I get used to this super strength gig soon," Benson sighed as she tried once more to gently zip her purse without breaking the zipper. "Being able to 'feel' for lack of a better term who isn't fully human would be a lot freakier right now if blackmailing the District Attorney hadn't made this trip possible."

Stabler snorted. Somehow he wasn't surprised to find out that the DA wasn't fully human. He'd always thought so, he'd just never really believed until after their discussions with Xander. The fact that some humans could and had bred with demons, voluntarily and involuntarily, was something that Xander had mentioned in passing, almost as an afterthought, when talking about a PI he knew in LA. The PI was a vampire and one of his people was a half demon named Doyle. That was one strange setup in his opinion, but if he'd found himself in those kind of circumstances, he didn't know if he'd do as well as they had.

The flight out to LA was uneventful other than almost missing their flight due to the security measures at the airport. It was long, cramped and boring for the two New York detectives even with the three hour lay over in Kansas City. It wasn't until they got to the airport in LA that anything really unusual happened. Olivia stopped dead in the middle of the corridor. Coming down a hallway from the direction of another gate were a group of four military personnel, one of whom was a woman with short blond hair. She had also stopped dead in her tracks. Olivia had automatically categorized the entire group and so wasn't too surprised when she saw the blond shifting her weight to shield the very large black man behind her. It was obvious to her new Slayer senses that the man wasn't human and the blond knew it. Thanking her lucky stars that she had met Xander, Dean and Spike before she had become a Slayer Olivia offered her hand to the woman. "Olivia Benson, New York PD, Special Victims Unit."

The blond accepted her hand and mostly relaxed. "Major Samantha Carter, US Air Force. Are you going to Sunnydale as well?" Sam didn't want to make an assumption, but she was pretty sure this woman was another Slayer.

"Yes we are. This is my partner, Detective Elliot Stabler."

"These are my teammates, Col. O'Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. Did you have as hard a time as I did getting out of town?" Sam asked as they both headed for the car rentals.

"Probably not, I ran into the DA and found out that he wasn't fully human. It wasn't any time at all before he was down telling my Captain that Elliot and I were needed in California and we were leaving right now."

Samantha Carter could only wish that her rush to Sunnydale had been so easy. "I wish I'd had it that easy. I was in the middle of waiting for a physical when I was called. Thank goodness my CO knows all about the hellmouth. It still wasn't easy though. The base doctor ran me through parts of my physical twice, just because the results were so off the first time. Let me tell you, if you can find a doctor who knows about Slayers, do whatever it takes to become their patient. Janet knows about Slayers and she still ran some of the fastest tests twice just to make sure she wasn't getting screwed up results. I shudder to think what would have happened if she hadn't known about Slayers."

Sitting in the rental van the men watched as Liv and Sam got to know each other. O'Neill was driving as he had driven the route before and listened in on the women's conversation. On the surface it didn't seem like they would have anything in common, but it soon became obvious that they both had many traits in common such as high intelligence, a stubborn streak and strong opinions on protecting others. "So, you blackmailed your DA?" O'Neill asked nonchalantly.

"Nah, blackmail is if you ask for money. We went in for a little extortion." Elliot grinned at the memory. "We'd met with him before, but Liv never had that sort of reaction to him before. We'd always agreed that he was a little bit slimy but all in all a good lawyer. He was walking down the hall and Liv grabbed him and shoved him in the nearest closet. I made sure that no one was watching and went in to find Liv holding the DA over her head by the throat explaining that she's a Slayer now and we needed to get to Sunnydale to help close the hellmouth and he was going to make sure we got to go and still have a job when we got back."

"AH!" O'Neill said wisely. "There is nothing like making sure someone you have to work for knows that you can kick his ass into next week without breaking a sweat." He turned his head towards the back while keeping his eye on the road but Sam beat him to the question.

"No sir. I won't give Senator Kinsey a demonstration of my Slayer abilities. Besides, I'm fairly sure that he's fully human."

"Rats," O'Neill muttered. It would have been nice to finally be able to get something on the jerk. "Can you check him out when we get back just to make sure?" he mock whined. "I'm sure the general could be persuaded to deport him if he isn't human. You know, cause I'm fairly sure you have to be human to be a Senator."

"Are you saying that you think all of his whining about nonhumans is to cover up the fact that he isn't human Jack?" Daniel asked with a laugh.

"Well, it's a possibility," O'Neill pointed out. "There is a reason we have the saying pot calling the kettle black you know."

"How far to Sunnydale sir?" Sam asked to distract O'Neill from the possibility of the SGC's political nemesis being nonhuman.

"About another half an hour Carter," O'Neill said distracted. "Do you think the general is going to have enough time to set things up for the 'terrorist threat'?" he asked, referring to their plan to evacuate the human population of Sunnydale and the surrounding areas.

"I think so Jack," Daniel said from his seat behind the ladies. "The last report I saw had a good half or more of the population already gone." Explaining the evacuation plans that the SGC had come up with took the rest of the trip and soon they were driving into Sunnydale.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 32

Buffy was leading the new Slayers in a kata designed to help them with their control. The two days that it had taken Olivia and Carter to get to Sunnydale had taken their toll on the Hellmouth Crew. The Winchester men had a colorful collection of broken and bruised ribs, a twisted knee, various claw tears, bruises and John had a broken wrist. He had asked for, and gotten an unbreakable spell put on his cast. He was now using it as a club.

S2 was even worse off. Kit and Carlos had threatened to run away from home so that they could fight. Jack had put a stop to that before any of the 'adults' were aware of their threats. Instead, he had put them in charge of his laptop and the extra files they had made before sending them away with their families. If Jack and the rest of the Hellmouth Crew didn't make it out of Sunnydale, his laptop would have the only record of their fight to close the hellmouth. Willow had somehow combined her magic and her computer skills to make sure that there would be a visual record. Jack wasn't too sure how it worked, but he knew how badly the intelligence would be needed if they didn't make it out alive.

Dawn had broken her leg, and had been sent to Cleveland as a result. She also had more small injuries than she could count. Jack had bruised ribs, yet another twisted knee and a concussion that he was recovering from. He no longer had the double vision but the headaches were still bothering him. Faith of course was fine physically, but she was getting more and more anxious for those around her, especially Dean and Wesley. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate how much danger the others were in; it was just that those two were closest to her heart.

Buffy was glad that Dawn was out of the picture and she didn't try to hide it. Dawn was her little girl and she wanted her to be safe. She knew Dawn could fight but it wasn't possible with a broken leg. Buffy flat out told her that while she was going to Cleveland, like it or not, and that she had a job to do there. She was to use her magic to guard the remaining members of the Watcher's Council. There would be too many demons who would love to take this opportunity to destroy what was left of the organization that had caused them so much trouble. She was also to look after Amy the rat for Willow and Tara.

Buffy only wished, silently of course, that John was hurt enough to send with her. She really didn't like the idea of sending Dawn so far away from both of them. The only reason she could relax at all was that Joyce and the nerd brigade, as Spike called the non-field Watchers, had been sent to Cleveland as well. Buffy had ordered Giles to go with them.

Although it kept her step-father out of the line of fire, that wasn't the main reason she had sent him. Giles was now the head of the Council and as such would be the only field Watcher that would be out of the fight. He would be needed to teach and train the new Slayers and their new Watchers as well as run the Council. He was also the only upper class Brit that had the pull and connections they would need to start a Slayer school and recruit new Watchers. They couldn't afford to lose him. Wesley's age would greatly count against him if he was needed to assume that position and he had neither the pull, nor the connections that would be needed.

The new Slayers were physically fine and their Watchers only had minor injuries, which Buffy considered to be a success under the circumstances. Sam and Aphra had needed to sew Spike back together more than once as he was determined to put himself between the danger and those members of his family he thought were helpless. That of course included Xander, who had no less than five arguments with him on three separate patrols. Still, Xander was in one piece and that meant a lot to Buffy. She was worried about who would be hurt or even worse, killed, in the up coming confrontation.

Willow, Tara and Elizabeth were the best off of those still in Sunnydale. None of them had been joining the patrols as they were still prime targets for the First. Instead they had been going over the instructions on how to close the hellmouth, both without and with Dr. Jackson, looking for anything that could go wrong or anything that they might have overlooked. They also helped patch up the injuries after the patrols.

"LUNCH!" called Col. O'Neill. There hadn't been much for him or Det. Stabler to do when they got to Sunnydale so they had taken over Joyce's usual duties and was making sure that everyone was fed. The new Slayers cheered, even Liv and Carter to their own amazement.

"Is this increase in appetite normal?" Liv asked Buffy. "I feel like I'm starving and I've been putting away food like I'm a linebacker or something."

"You're not a linebacker Liv, you're a Slayer. And as John keeps telling me, a Slayer needs fuel to do the things she does, which means that you haven't seen anything yet. This is just a coasting sort of hunger, kind of like everyday munchies or something. The kind of hunger you get when you've been lazing around in your pj's all weekend. Post patrol hunger is much worse and post slaying hunger is even worse than that."

She caught Liv and Carter by the arms and made sure that all both of the women were looking at her. "The other girls have already seen Faith and I go through this, you two haven't. So listen up and listen good. You must eat and you have to eat a lot of high calorie foods, the more the better. Don't worry about your figure because whatever extra weight you might have right now will be gone by the end of the week, if not sooner. You are both Slayers now and you'll never see a fat Slayer. What you are more likely to see is a Slayer eating everything in sight and still starving to death. There are other urges that you'll need to know about, but I'll leave that to the Watchers to explain to you."

With that Buffy let go and led the way over to the kitchen. When they got there they could see what Buffy had been talking about. Faith had been out on patrol and started giving Buffy an update as soon as she sat down. Her plate was piled high with food and Dean, who was sitting next to her, was pushing even more food at her as she paused every couple of words to take a bite. She was eating more than Liv had ever seen, although Carter remembered a similar feast from the incident at the SGC. They also both saw that Faith was too skinny. She wasn't as bad as she had been eight months ago, but the strain of the situation was beginning to show.

The new Slayers ate quietly while listening to Faith. The news wasn't good. Harbringers were scouring the town and the Turok-Han were doing the same under ground. No demon or human was safe from them. Faith warily told Buffy that she had ordered the military guys out of town. "I don't wanna step on your toes, B. But it's so bad out there right now I didn't think they'd make it if they stayed. I had to rescue two squads before the guy in charge gave in and ordered his people out."

"You mean they were actually smarter than the Initiative guys? Well color me stunned," Xander snarked as the rest of the group laughed at Xander's delivery, if not at the memory of the Initiative.

"Yeah, the General sent somebody out there with brains. I didn't have as bad a time as B did with the soldier boys though. I guess having T with me helped." Faith didn't want to brag, but she was pretty sure her little slayfest in the mess hall back at the SGC had helped too. She was sure that at least four of the men she'd just ordered out of town had been there.

"I'm glad you didn't, Faith. That was such a pain. I proved that I could take them all on and kick their backsides to the curb and they still treated me like I was Riley's little woman." Buffy paused as Sam loaded her plate up again. "You know, just because John isn't here, doesn't mean you need to shove food down my throat Sam," Buffy said wryly. John was still sorting out the armory and had asked that someone drop off a sandwich for his lunch. She appreciated Sam's efforts, but she was well aware that she couldn't be skimping on food now. Now only would she need to keep her strength up so she wouldn't collapse when they tried to close the hellmouth tonight, but she had to set an example to the new Slayers.

"Don't worry, Buffy. I'm not about to start one of Dean and Dad's feed the Slayer wars." The new arrivals looked puzzled at that remark while the old hands snickered at the reminder of how John and Dean would fight each other over food to give to their respective Slayers. "Dad just worries since he's not going to be here and he asked me to look out for you while he's busy."

"Oh don't worry about me. I'm being responsible Buffy. No skipping meals or trying to eat less than I should. I have to be the example and the grown up about these things. I can already tell that being the oldest Slayer is really going to suck big time." Buffy said in the earnest voice that usually got laughs out of her friends. It worked this time as well, but Tara had to rescue Willow from choking on her food.

"Why do you say you're the oldest Slayer Buffy? Liv and I are both older than you are," Carter asked. She didn't want to put Buffy down but she didn't understand her remark either.

"Buffy's the Slayer who has lived as a Slayer the longest," Sarah said with awe echoing in her voice. "There hasn't been a Slayer that has lived as long as she has for centuries, maybe even never. She's lived six years as the Slayer, and five of them were here on the hellmouth!" When it was obvious from the blank looks the women were giving her that they didn't understand just what an achievement that was she added, "The average life expectancy of a Slayer is a year, less if they get near a hellmouth."

"Actually, I've been a Slayer almost seven years," Buffy said quietly. "I was called shortly after my fifteenth birthday. And I did die, Sarah. Xander brought me back with CPR. That's why Kendra was called and then when she died, Faith was called. Don't think that just because I made some good choices in my friends and survived thanks to them that I'm all knowing and god like." Buffy smiled at Willow and Xander, who both beamed back at her. Then and now there was no way they would let her face her destiny alone and for that Buffy was more grateful than she could say.

"Hey since there's no telling if we're going to get through tonight or not," Dean said to break up the chick flick moment and to hopefully give Faith a last minute present. "Teal'c, could you spar with Faith at least once before we leave the mansion? She's been dying to spar with you."

Both senior Slayers perked up at the question and eagerly looked over at the big Jaffa. Both of them had seen him fight and eagerly looked forward to sparing with him. He bowed his head in their direction. "I would be honored to spar with both of you. You are formidable warriors and you perform your duties well."

"From Teal'c that's high praise," Carter told Faith and Buffy. Everyone hurried through their meal as no one wanted to miss this match.

The mats that had been rolled up and waiting to be moved to the school bus John had 'borrowed' from the school district were rolled out once more onto the ballroom floor. Teal'c stepped out onto the mat and waited for Faith and Buffy to decide which of them would spar with Teal'c first. Finally they had Jack toss a coin. Faith called heads and won the toss.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 33

Teal'c struck first, knowing from watching her that Faith wouldn't strike a sparing opponent first. She had too much honor to strike a friend first, even in a sparing session. She knew how strong she was and thus let her opponent's strike set the strength level of the session. He had often done the same with his opponents at the SGC. None of them were as strong as a Jaffa and honor dictated that he should not shame them by beating them without giving them a chance.

Faith didn't even try to avoid the blow and took it square on her chin. The blow rocked her head back, but everyone could see that it wasn't very strong. This was to be a test of skill, rather than strength. Faith was more than ok with that and she let loose with a roundhouse kick that Teal'c ducked only to come up in time to catch Faith's other foot in his stomach, right above the Jaffa pouch. She pulled her second kick even more so that she barely tapped him. She didn't know how sensitive that area was, but she had talked to Jack about the differences between a Jaffa and a human and didn't want to injure Teal'c in any way.

Teal'c actually grinned at how careful Faith was with him and said, "My pouch is not that delicate of an area SlayerFaith, although I do appreciate your concern." He then threw his own kick at her stomach, which she easily avoided, only to swing back into another punch. Faith grabbed his wrist before he could connect and swung around to elbow him in the face.

This went on for some time; each one exchanging careful blows with the other. Every sort of blow that a Slayer or Jaffa was taught was used and Faith's smile was blinding. Just in the first five minutes Teal'c had used two combinations that she had never seen before and Teal'c was impressed with her as well. The new Slayers were even more impressed.

Carter was amazed at Faith's speed and accuracy. She knew exactly how good Teal'c was at hand to hand, not only having watched him train the new recruits to the Stargate program but also having watched him kick ass in combat both with and without weapons. She wondered why Faith had been so adamant that she was barely good enough to be called a Slayer.

Liv was just shocked at how neither of the combatants managed to really gain the upper hand. She knew that Faith was a Slayer and she was just beginning to see what that meant, both for Faith and for herself. Teal'c was more than a hundred years old, Carter had told her, and most of that time had been spent as a warrior in the service of the Goa'uld Apophis. He had more real combat experience than she could wrap her brain around, and yet Faith was holding her own in this sparring session.

The younger Slayers watched with rapt attention, trying to see not only the moves and counter moves that the two were using, but how they could use the moves themselves. Unlike Carter and Liv, they had been told for years what to expect if they were ever called as a Slayer, so they thought they knew what they were getting in to.

Standing next to John, Buffy watched Teal'c more than Faith, with the work she had been doing, she really hadn't had the time or opportunity to work with Jack on Jaffa fighting and this was her chance to study it. She wanted to be ready when it was her turn to spar with the large warrior.

John noticed her preoccupation with the match and pulled Dean and Sam to the back of the room. "I've got something I want to say boys." He immediately had both of his son's attention. It was rare that John would say something like that outside of a hunt briefing, so whatever he had to say was very important. "If Buffy and I don't make it out of the fight tonight, Sam you get custody of Dawn."

He noticed the shocked looks on the boys faces and gave a little smile. "It isn't that I don't think you would do a good job Dean. It's that you've already had to raise one of your siblings and I don't think it's fair to load that on you again. It wasn't fair of me to do that in the first place, you're only four years older than Sam. You shouldn't have had to raise him, it was my job.

"You've got yourself a fine girl," he nodded at where Faith and Teal'c were sparring. "You need to concentrate on yourself and starting your own family for a change. I know if you're the last one left you'll do a good job with Dawn, but if you aren't I want Sam to do this.

"Sam, you're old enough and responsible enough to take care of and finish raising your sister. Everyone will help you, so you won't be stuck in the same situation that I was. She's also older, at least physically, and that will make a difference. I know you'll make sure that she has the balance that you boys didn't."

John turned a full stare on both of his sons. "Just both of you make sure she's protected from both the supernatural and from boys like Dean." That brought a smile to the faces of all the Winchester men. There was no doubt that until Dean had met Faith he had been a Don Juan, although he had been very careful to make sure that his 'dates' knew he wasn't looking for anything long term. There was also no doubt that their personal armories would be fully loaded to threaten anyone that even looked twice at their baby sister, no matter how big of a tantrum she threw about it.

"First off," Dean said sternly to his father, "You're supposed to be courting Buffy, not a Reaper." Sam shivered in unison with his brother over the mention of that little piece of their past. Reapers weren't a good conversation topic in the Winchester family. "Second, there is no way in hell we would have survived if you hadn't raised us the way you did. Those demons were going to kill us any way they could and they weren't going to stop unless we stopped them first. Thanks to you we lived long enough and had learned enough to do that. I have no problem with how you raised us.

"Yeah, ok, I was a little too responsible growing up. But we were never normal and if that was the price to pay to keep Sammy alive I didn't have a problem with it then and I don't now." Dean shivered as he remembered many of the close calls that his little brother had over the years. "As far as having a family of my own, well, that's up to Faith. Right now I'm more concerned with keeping her alive than figuring out if we're gonna have kids or not."

"You'll make a great Dad, Dean." Sam watched his big brother squirm. "I mean it. Dad's right, you did practically raise me. And aside from not wanting to be a Hunter, look how I turned out. Thanks to you and you making sure I always had what I needed, whether it was meals or time to study or whatever, I got a full ride to Stanford. I could go anywhere in the country or out of it for that matter to go to school.

"Dad may have had more influence on how my personality turned out, but you were the one who made sure I had what I needed to do whatever it was that I wanted. Dad made sure we stayed alive, you made sure I grew up."

Sam turned back to his father. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Dawn's a bigger brain than I am, would it?" He smiled at the way his father squirmed exactly the same way Dean just had.

"Consider it revenge for all of those questions I couldn't answer." John noticed that Faith and Teal'c had finished sparring and were bowing to each other. "They're done, it's Buffy's turn," he said eager to watch 'his' Slayer in action.

Dean hurried to where Faith was glowing from the wonderful workout Teal'c had given her. John and Sam were right behind him and John caught the look Buffy was shooting him. They hadn't been stealthy enough and she had known they were taking time out for a conference. The look told him all he needed to know, he'd be telling her all about it or she'd really be upset.

Buffy took her place in front of Teal'c. She had been watching him carefully, not only for his moves, but to make sure that Faith hadn't worn him out. She knew that Jaffa had more stamina than humans but still, they weren't up for a full on Slayer match like she and Faith liked to get into when they had the time. She didn't want him to be too tired for the fight tonight. It might cost him his life and that wasn't acceptable.

John was listening to the bets being passed back and forth with Xander and Spike being the main culprits. How they managed to run a betting pool with two Slayers around plus the five 'younger' Slayers mystified him. He knew that if he had even thought of making a bet (on Buffy of course, he'd never bet against her) she'd have skinned him, verbally at least. Somehow, Spike and Xander always got off with just a glare.

The bets were interesting at least. They never bet that someone would be injured or that something really bad would happen to them. No, the bets were more along the lines of who was dating who, which person would get the most dustings in a single patrol, what kind of prank would be played next and who would the target be, who would come out ahead on points in the daily sparring and practice sessions and the biggest running bet of all, who would be assigned as the new Watcher for the new Slayers.

All of the Slayers had temporary Watchers but Giles had made it clear that the new field Watchers would have to prove themselves the same way he and Wesley had, by going into the field with their Slayers. The old tradition of simply watching and recording while the Slayer did all of the work was to be thrown out the window. The new Slayers would have proper backup or the new Watchers would be reassigned to the new Council Libraries.

That was something John really approved of. He considered the Watchers while watching Buffy float through her turn sparring with Teal'c. The Watchers for the teen Slayers were all old school Watchers and were nervous about the entire situation. Although they had training, it was more so that they could train their Slayers rather than to keep themselves alive in the middle of a battle. John wasn't worried too much about them; they would either live or die. There wasn't anything more that could be taught to them, now they had to take the plunge.

Carter had Dr. Jackson as her Watcher. He not only had the academic research background needed to qualify as a Watcher, although he hadn't done a lot of research on demons per say, he also had combat experience so there was no doubt that he would be good for watching Carter's back in the field. He already did so when they went off world, so doing the same while they were on world didn't change things much for them.

Liv on the other hand, had a problem. Her 'Watcher' was her partner, Det. Stabler. He knew as little as she did when it came to the supernatural, although John was trying to educate him as quickly as he could. He had little in the way of hand to hand experience, mostly what he had learned as a marine and as a cop on the street, but he was going to need a lot more to be able to keep up with his Slayer partner. He was the one that John was worried about the most.

Would he be able to survive the night? Would he be able to learn what he needed to so he could continue as Liv's Watcher? It was a good thing that New York was a fairly quiet city as far as the supernatural went. If they lived through tonight they would have a chance to catch up on what they needed to learn.

Carter and Liv were oblivious to the somber man standing not far from them. They were mesmerized by Buffy. The difference between the two 'older' Slayers really hadn't been something they had understood until now. Where Faith was more than a decent fighter and had amazed them both with how she had held her own with Teal'c, Buffy was blowing him away and making it look like she wasn't even trying.

Buffy's fighting style was unique, a combination of many different styles of martial arts and her years of typical American princess training, dance, skating, gymnastics. All of these elements she had somehow managed to combine so that watching her was simply breathtaking. She avoided powerful blows by simply not being there, doing everything from swaying out of the way as though she were on a dance floor to dropping down into a full split, rolling forward into a summersault, and bringing her legs up to catch Teal'c around the neck and pull him down flat on his back and then kipping up before he could move.

The last move shocked Teal'c so much that he simply sat up and stared at Buffy. He had never seen anything like it. While he had seen many moves that were familiar to him from his studies at the SGC, and both Buffy and Faith had shown him moves that he was unfamiliar with, they had all been moves and combinations that he could see as having come from some type of martial art.

Buffy's fighting style was something else again. Not even the finest Jaffa warrior could take this small Slayer. She was truly worthy of her position. Once he had regained his composure, he stood up and bowed to her. "You are truly worthy of being called First Prime of the Slayers, SlayerBuffy. I concede the match."

Buffy knew that First Prime had been Teal'c rank among the Jaffa and that it was as high as a Jaffa could go. She smiled at his praise and bowed to him in return. "Thanks Teal'c, I enjoyed the match."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 35

This was it, the final culmination of more than five years of hard work, the slaying and the researching, all the lives she'd saved and all the lives she'd failed to save, the scars she'd gathered both those visible on her skin and those invisible on her heart, all of the visits to the hospital when one of her friends and family were hurt, everything came down to this night and this fight. Buffy watched as everyone packed their weapons of choice. Stakes were going to be pretty useless but there wasn't a Slayer who didn't have at least one. The Watchers one and all had basic guns, swords and not much else. They were coming along to watch their Slayer's backs, not to try and be heroes themselves.

It was the odd ones out; the Hunters, the Witches, and those who defied any sort of classification; they were the ones who were loaded for bear, so to speak. If the group had a weapon of any kind, it was these people who had it, from pistols to shotguns to almost every kind of blade known to man. There were stakes, rosaries, holy water pistols, magical potions and powders, SG1 had brought zats, and staff weapons, (although no one was asking just how they had managed to smuggle those off the base) axes, Spike's railroad spikes, a portable flamethrower (no one knew how Dean had managed to build one and he wasn't talking), maces, crossbows, short and long bows, all in all Buffy thought it was a wonder any of them could even stand, much less walk out to the bus.

The Slayer's Scythe and the Colt were the weapons that were hardest to hand out. After much discussion it was decided that Buffy would carry the Scythe as she was the oldest Slayer. It was perfectly balanced in her hands and was a great weapon for decapitation. It would be very useful against the Turok-Han. The Colt was much harder to figure out. Who was the one who had the greatest chance to take out the First?

They had decided that it was too much to ask a Slayer or Watcher to carry it. They already had a task, that of closing the hellmouth. That would be difficult enough without trying to kill the First as well. That meant that one of the people most used to guns and best suited for shooting a pistol, Elliot, wouldn't be carrying the Colt as he would be too busy watching for Liv. It was his idea to set up an elimination match using a similar gun.

Everyone who could shoot had taken part. It surprised no one that Dean was good with a pistol. He had as much practice as anyone but he had started at a much earlier age. He was six years old the first time his father had put a gun in his hands, and there hadn't been a day since that he hadn't at least touched one after that. That added up to a sense of the gun being a part of him, to the point where he actually felt naked without one. It also led to his being the best shot anyone had ever seen. He even out shot his father, which surprised Sam.

John really shouldn't have been taking part in the competition both because he was filling in for Giles and because of his broken arm, but he had said that he just wanted to see where he stood. Buffy knew the truth however; he wanted to kill the thing that had killed his old friend Caleb. They had known each other before John became a Hunter. He had known Mary, and had literally known the boys all of their lives. To lose an old friend like that was hard. Buffy didn't blame him for wanting to get in on the kill.

She sat down next to him on the bus as Sam drove it away from the mansion. "Gonna miss this place?" he asked her.

She thought about it and shrugged. "It's been a huge part of my life, John. I was a kid who tried to turn her back on her destiny the day Mom drove us here, now I'm the one leading the hurray we're Slayers brigade. Right now it's more weird than anything else. I think I'll be ok as long as most of us make it out in one piece."

She caught his apprehensive look and gave him a sad smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm not sticking my head in the sand here. I know we're going to loose people tonight. I'm just hoping that none of them are the ones closest to me." She leaned into his shoulder and he put his arm around her. They only had time for a quick kiss before they arrived at the school.

Sam left the keys in the ignition knowing that he might not be the one driving out of there later. There was no telling who would be mobile and who wouldn't. He had to give them all every advantage he could, including making sure that the doors were left open and the bus was ready to go the moment anyone climbed into it.

The First knew they were coming and had prepared for the confrontation. The basement under the school was gone, swallowed up by the hole that Faith had fallen through back at Christmas. That hole was now a large cavern with a single staircase carved in stone leading to the bottom.

At the back of the cavern there was an alter where the First stood in Caleb's body. Just in front of the alter was the seal, which already had cracks running through out its surface. The rest of the cavern was filled with Bringers and Turok-Han. It was an interesting point that no other demons would work with the First, not even other vampires.

Spike insisted on being the first one down the stair case, his game face on so as to make the most of his vision. Dean and Sam were right behind him, so used to fighting together that there was no one they'd rather trust at each other's back. Faith knew this and understood it. They had been Hunting together and looking out for each other since Dean was four years old. That was a long time. If she couldn't back him up, or the reverse, then she wanted Sam at his back too. The Slayers and their Watchers came next, with Buffy and John in the lead. After them came the others with the Witches in the back.

The Witches' orders were clear. Stay at the top of the stairs, help out where you can and cover us as we retreat. Spike was to clear the way for Dean, with Sam watching his back while the Slayers went for the seal. The rest were to cover them all and to create as much confusion as they possibly could. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was the best they could come up with considering what they were up against, a veritable army of nearly unstoppable vampires and the entity trapped within Caleb's dead body.

That was an unexpected side effect of the Slayers being activated. With each Slayer that had said 'Yes' to Willow during the spell, another chain was added to the First until it could no longer leave the body it had taken over. Naturally it was furious, but when added to the fact that, thanks to Xander, it only had the use of one arm, it had become determined to rip Xander and anyone else connected to the Slayers to pieces.

They made no attempt to conceal themselves as they marched down the halls of the school. The First knew they were coming and they knew that. Sneaking wouldn't do them any good so they didn't bother. With one last deep breath, (even Spike took one, unneeded or not) they started down to the cavern below.

Spike and Dean took out the Harbringers at the top of the staircase and pounded their way down, using their momentum to shove all of the demons out of their way. It was like watching a line of dominos falling over as one after the other the demons fell to the floor of the cavern. Jack set up at the top of the stairs with a staff weapon, just below the Witches. From there they could see the entire cavern and would help with their magic, Jack was using the same place as a sniper spot. It only took one shot for the speculation they had made to be proven as fact. A staff weapon could take out a Turok-Han just as readily as sunlight.

Once on the floor of the cavern they met the First's army with a clash. The sound of multiple staff weapons, gun shots, and cross bows firing rang out mixed in with the clashing of swords and the roar of Dean's home made flame thrower. That had more of an impact than they had guessed it would. It seemed that Turok-Han might not be vulnerable to regular fire, but they were vulnerable to whatever it was that Dean used to get his flamethrower to shoot a super hot flame.

When they realized that, Sam took the point and led the way with the flame thrower. It made all the difference in the world, clearing a swath straight for the First. Dean, Spike, O'Neill, Xander and Teal'c took the flanks while the Watchers guarded the Slayers in the middle. It wasn't easy for the Slayers to hold back at the sight of all those vampires, but they had been told over and over again how important it was to bleed on the seal first. Then they could go after the vampires.

Not that they were holding back all that much. There were enough vampires getting through the outer perimeter for the Slayers to feed their need to kill the unnatural and demonic creatures. It was a hard won fight by the time that they got near the seal. There wasn't a single human that was unscathed and even Teal'c and Spike had injuries. Spike's being more severe as he took more chances than the others, up to the point of actually ripping the heads of some of the Turok-Han clean off their bodies.

All of the Harbringers except the ones up behind the alter by the First were dead, killed in the first wave of bullets. Jack was picking off the Turok-Han with almost surgical precision, and the Witches were doing such things as gluing feet to the cavern floor and breaking the swords of the Turok-Han before they could strike. In a word it was chaos.

Then Amber took the first real hit for the Slayers. While dealing with one Turok-Han, another got through and punched her rib cage before Grace could decapitate it. While Amber was running on the adrenalin high that had her so focused on killing any vampire in front of her she didn't feel the hit, it still broke several of her ribs and bruised the entire left side of her body.

Amanda was the first Watcher they lost. The Turok-Han got a lucky swipe in before Sarah could stop it and it tore out her throat. They were three quarters of the way to the seal at that point. They didn't want to leave her body behind but they had no choice. They couldn't carry it and still fight at the same time.

Jody's Watcher was the next to go down and die, due to a belly wound. By this time they were almost to the seal, and Dean was retreating from his position on the flank back behind Sam, Xander and Spike. He switched his sword to his left hand and started to pull out the Colt.

Now they were at the seal, but Xander was grabbed by the Harbringers and dragged across the alter. The First laughed as it swung a sacrificial dagger, driven insane by its rage. That gave Dean his opening, he took his first shot, only to be knocked to the ground by the Turok-Han that finally was able to get to Sam, knocking him into his brother and ripping the flame thrower to pieces as it died. The first shot missed, but took out the First's other arm.

The scream was so great that it actually stopped the battle. Dean, having so many years of Hunting and practice under his belt, was one of the few not fazed by the scream. That meant that he had a clear shot and he took it. No one heard the shot under the screams but they could see the effect as the First shook from the impact and then slowly fell over.

The others who weren't fazed by the scream were Buffy and Faith. Taking advantage of the distraction they grabbed the other Slayers and dragged their hands over the seal. Buffy and Faith both took knifes and sliced their hands, bringing the Slayers out of their shock. Then they sliced their own hands. As the blood of seven Slayers dripped onto the seal, it began to glow.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! RETREAT!" yelled Dr. Jackson, who hauled Carter away from the seal. Spike lunged forward and took the knife that was headed for Xander in the back. Then he pushed away the Harbringer that was wielding it, stood up and threw Xander over his shoulders.

This time it was the Slayers who were on the outside as they guarded those who had guarded them as they retreated. The seal was glowing more and more brightly as they headed for the stairs. This was actually the most dangerous part of the fight.

Everyone was injured and that slowed down their reaction time. That combined with the fact that they were retreating gave the Turok-Han increased assurance that they would win. It was only the Slayers instincts that saved them. Faced with a life and death situation where the only thing they were concerned about was getting themselves and their friends out alive, the gifts of the Slayer line came out in full force.

They were so fast Jack had to stop shooting for fear of hitting one of them. They retreated, falling back step by step, facing the enemy and fighting backwards as they held the rear guard. Jack ran up the steps getting out of their way, he was useless in this fight now and he knew it. It was time for his next job. The one he had assigned to himself after he had been given the sniper position, bus driver.

He had the bus running and all of the doors wide open when they came barreling out of the school. He had set up Sam's medical gear on the seat behind him so that Sam would be able to start triage right away. The walking wounded not only poured into the bus through the front door of the bus, but the back hatch and side door as well. Buffy was the last through the back hatch and Faith was the last through the side door.

"FLOOR IT!" yelled Faith as she slammed the door shut. Buffy couldn't get her throat to make a sound. She stared wide eyed at the school as it started to collapse. She was the eldest; the others were her responsibility, so she had taken the rearmost position. That meant that she had the closest view of the hellmouth closing and collapsing in on itself.

She held that position all the way out of the fight and kept it as the bus sped off. Whenever Jack started to slow down thinking that he was out of the danger zone, it brought Buffy out of her shock long enough to yell at him to keep going. Faith, Dean and John joined her on the bench seat at the back of the bus. It wasn't just the school that was collapsing. It was more than even the few blocks around the school. Block after block the bus raced ahead of the collapse, only to finally outrun it when it reached a mile beyond the town boarders, just before the military blockade.

That was where Jack finally stopped the bus. As Sam helped the walking injured over to the small MASH unit set up beyond the blockade, those who had the more minor injuries walked back to watch the dust settle.

The End.


End file.
